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HISTORIC TALES 



OLDEN TIME, 



CONCERNING 



THE EARLY SETTLEMENT AND PROGRESS 

OF 

FOR THE USE OP FAMILIES AND SCm)OLS. 

ILLUSTRATED WITH PLATES. 



BY JOHN F. WATSON, 

AUTHOR OF ANNALS OF PHILADELPHIA, &C. &C. 



" Oh ! dear is a tale of the olden time." 



PHILADELPHIA: 

PUBLISHED BY E. LITTELL AND BY THOMAS HOLDEN. 

1833. 



.W3 



yf^/". 



Bnterkd, according to the Act ot" Congress, in the year ld33, by E. Lit- 
TELL and by Thomas Holden, in the clerk's office of the district for the east- 
ern district of Pennsylvania. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



TO PARENTS, GUARDIANS, AND PRECEPTORS. 



The first contemplations and feelings of youth should 
be drawn out and fixed upon country and home. These 
strongest natural affections of the heart — soonest and 
readiest possessed, and longest and most fondly retain- 
ed — should be sedulously cherished concerning, the 
land of our birth. To this end, whatever can mul- 
tiply those local associations of idea which bind us to 
the paternal soil, must benefit the youth, and at the 
same time win the countenance and support of judicious 
parents and guardians. " Such topics," says Washing- 
ton Irving, " call up scenes and affections which nothing 
can efface from the heart." 

There is a natural and useful curiosity, in all, to know 



Vlll 



the cause and origin of things around them. This 
passion is peculiarly strong in youthful minds ; and 
what can be more worthy of their inquiry and interest, 
than the first settlement and progress of their forefathers, 
through many early difficulties, to civilisation, refinement 
and happiness ? Wherefore, few things can be proposed 
so pleasingly instructive, and so stirring to the feelings, 
as to learn those striking incidents of the olden time, 
which seize upon the mind like visions of fancy, or 
dreams of the imagination. It may, in fine, be said, 
that it is the duty of patriotism, as well as of parental 
affection, that " when your children shall ask you 
ivherefore are these things so ? then shall ye ansiver 
the??!, dec.'' " It is thus," says the Association of Teach- 
ers in Philadelphia, upon this subject, " that the good 
taste of our youth will be cultivated, as eflfectually as 
their curiosity will be gratified, and at the same time the 
cause of popular instruction will receive a valuable im- 
pulse." 

The following illustrations of the proper domestic 
history of Philadelphia, and of the early rise and pro- 
gress of Pennsylvania, from its small beginnings to its 
present greatness — derived in substance from " Wat- 
son's Annals of Philadelphia," — are cast together in the 
form of instructive historical tales, with a hope that 
they may succeed to inform the minds and improve the 
hearts of the youths of our country. " By the preser- 



IX 



vation of these national recollections ^'^ says our eloquent 
countryman, Everett, " we are to form, animate, and 
perpetuate, a free people." — 'Tis in effect a legacy 
by which our progenitors say to us, " my sons, forget 
not your fathers !" 



THE AUTHOR. 



Philadelphia County^ 1831. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Primitive state of our country - - - Page 13 

Origin of the State of Pennsylvania - - - 18 

First settlement of Philadelphia - - - - 23 

Further facts concerning the first settlement of Philadelphia 29 

First inland settlements - - - - - 34 

Settlement of Chester County - - - - 35 

Settlementof Bucks County - - - - 40 

Pennsbury .-.-.- 43 

Settlement of Byberry - - - - - 45 

Settlement of Germantown .... 52 

Settlement of Norristown - . . . - 56 

Frankford ...... 57 

Settlement of Gwynned - - - - - 59 

Settlement of Chester - - ... 61 

Frontier Towns — Lancaster, Reading, &c. - - 64 

The landing of Penn at Philadelphia - - - 69 

The Treaty Tree and Fairman's Mansion - - - 73 

Swedes Church and house of Sven Sener - - 82 

Penn's Cottage in Laetitia Court - - - - 88 

Slate-roof House — Penn's residence ... 93 

The Caves - - - - - - 99 

Habits and state of Society .... 101 

Apparel ....... 110 

Furniture and Equipage .... 125 

Sundry changes at Philadelphia - . . . 133 

Superstitions and popular credulity ... 141 



Xll TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Sports and Amusements - - ' - - - 149 

Education - - - - - - 160 

Old Court House 166 

State House and Yard - - - - - 1 72 

Office of Foreign Affairs - - - - - 181 

Theatres - - - - - - 184 

Indians - - 190 

Pirates - 209 

Germans 224 

Irish -...--. 227 
Negroes and Slaves . . - . . 230 

Redemption Servants - - - - - 234 

Aged Persons ...... 239 

Seasons and Climate - . - . . 250 

First Medical Lectures ..... 266 

The Post 269 

Gazettes . - - - - - - 273 

Whales and Whalery 274 

Grapes and Vineyards . - - . . 277 

War of Independence . . - . - 282 

Federal Procession ..... 301 

Watering Places ..... 303 

Steam Boats - - - - - - 308 

Conclusion _.-.-- 313 



HISTORIC TALES 



OP 



OLDEN TIME 



PRIMITIVE STATE OF OUR COUNTRY. 

The youth of the present day, surrounded by nu- 
merous tokens of weahh, splendour and civilization, 
have httle or no conception of the former waste and 
wilderness state of the regions in which we now dwell. 
They look abroad and see our present luxury and 
abundance, and with scarcely a second thought infer 
that things, as they see them now, were always so ; — 
but this is a conclusion wholly aside from the truth. 
It is but a short period of time — as nations count time, 
(say, but 150 years ago,) since the present great city 
of Philadelphia^ and all the adjacent inland country of 
Pennsylvania^ was " one still and solemn desert in 
primeval garb." it was a country clothed with wood, 
and in allusion to this fact, it was called Penn-Sylvania — 
a compounded Latin word expressing the woody coun- 
try of Penn. Those woods, even where we now walk, 
lide or dwell, were once filled with excellent game, or 



14 HISTORIC TALES 

numerous beasts of prey, and the land in general was 
occupied by many Indians. 

To help our young readers the better to understand 
the primitive state of such a country, we shall endea- 
vour to cast together for their contemplation such facts 
as then existed. 

The river Delaware (called Lenape Wihittuck by the 
Indians,) which fronts our State of Pennsylvania, was 
first discovered in the year 1609 — (only think how short 
a time since !) by that celebrated navigator, Captain 
Henry Hudson, the same who also, about the same 
time, discovered and explored the Hudson or North River 
at New York. The States General of Holland, for 
whom he was acting, began to colonize the country 
along the waters of the Delaware in 1623 ; and to pro- 
tect their settlers from Indians or new comers, they 
built their first fort, called Nassau, and probably their 
first village, at the place since known as Gloucester 
Point in New Jersey, two miles below the present 
Philadelphia. The place was then known to the In- 
dians by the name of Arwanus and sometimes as Ta- 
kaacho. Our readers will therefore understand, that 
this our country, now so wholly English in its popula- 
tion, was nevertheless originally of the Holland race : 
they calling the country Nieu Nederlandt, and our 
river, the Zuydt Riviere. 

Captain Kornelius Jacobus Mey (pronounced May) 
must be regarded as the first explorer of our bay and 
river ; and it was he who first constructed the fort and 
village as above mentioned at Gloucester Point, called 
also Pine Point. From him we have also named our 
prominent points of port entrance, such as " Cape 



OF OLDEN TIME. 15 

May" and " Cape Cornelius." Cape Hinlopen was 
named after Jelmer Hinlopen, another Dutch navigator 
of that time. 

In the year 1630, the Dutch made peculiar efforts to 
settle and colonize the country. Several merchants of 
Amsterdam sent out in that year Captain Devries, with 
two vessels to effect their object. They designed to 
raise tobacco and grain, and to csiich whales and seals; 
for then, let my young readers observe, our salt waters 
abounded with those sea animals, now no longer known 
near our shores. The little colony, consisting of only 
three dozen persons, (mark this, to then begin our pre- 
sent great nation I) with their cattle and implements of 
husbandry, (for these had to be brought with them to 
this then wilderness land,) made their settlement up a 
creek two leagues from Cape Cornelius, which they 
named Swaendael or Swandale, because of its then nu- 
merous swans — birds now no longer visiting our regions. 
This little colony thus begun, near the present Lewis- 
town in Delaware, was soon after destroyed by the 
Indians, whom they incited to such violence on them- 
selves, through the ill-natured misconduct of one of 
their inferior officers. 

In the next year, 1631, a great attempt at coloniza- 
tion was commenced by the Swedes and Fins, under the 
sanction and support of Queen Christianna. They ar- 
rived in such numbers as to begin the present New 
Castle, then called Stockholm, and also to build their 
first fort for another settlement at Christiana, now the 
present Wilmington. At the island of Tenecum, they 
built a fort called New Gottenburgh, and constructed a 
village, calling their governor's house Printz's Hall. 



16 HISTORIC TALES 

All these, on the site now occupied as the Lazaretto 
grounds. These Swedes, in time, became sufficiently 
numerous to occupy the most of the favourable posi- 
tions along the margin of the river Delaware, and ex- 
tending themselves up as high as the present Penny- 
pack creek at Holmsburgh, calling the creek after its 
Indian name of Pennapect, and the country " Upland," 
in contradistinction to the present " lower counties" 
then called Low-lands. Our entire country they called 
Nya Swerige, or New Swedeland. 

These Swedes, whilst they inhabited our country as 
a distinct nation ; talking their own language, and 
governing according to the laws and usages of their 
mother country, — had for their security numerous log 
forts or block houses in country localities ; such as 
Chincessing, Korsholm, Finlandt, Lapananel &c. One 
was at or near the present Swedes churcli» — another 
was in Passaiunk near the Schuylkill river. The name 
of Schuylkill is supposed to have been given by the 
Dutch, and to mean in their language hidden river, 
in reference to its covered appearance at its mouth. 
The Indians called it Nittabaconck and Manaiunk. 

It might well surprise the present generation, seeing 
such profusion of comforts and refinement around us 
now, to know the rough and rude manner in which 
their Swedish forefathers once dwelt in this land. Their 
log houses consisted of but one room, to which the door 
of entrance was so low as to require one to stoop. In- 
stead of window-panes of glass, they had little holes 
before which a sliding board was put ; or on other oc- 
casions, they had isinglass ; the cracks between the logs 
were filled with clav. The chimnies in a corner were 



OF OLDEN TIME. 17 

either of stone, or sometimes of mere clay and coarse 
grass mixt. They wore vests and breeches of skins ; 
and even the women wore jackets and petticoats of the 
same ; their beds, too, were generally of such skins as 
bears', wolves', &c. 

In time, the Dutch, who had grown into power in 
New York, determined to dislodge and conquer the 
Swedes, and therefore in 1655, they sent round to the 
Delaware a fleet with 700 men, which for ever put down 
the nationality of the Swedes, as a separate people. 
But the New York Dutchmen, had scarcely got through 
their self-gratulations at their success over the Swedes, 
before they themselves were subdued and laid aside from 
all rule over our domains, by their surrender in 1664, 
to the fleet of the Duke of York. His oflicers forth- 
with seized upon, and put under the rule of the British 
government, all the lands and people laying within the 
bounds of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. 

In this eventful measure, lays the cause of our being 
at this day an English people ; that is, a people speak- 
ing the English language, observing English manners 
and laws, profitably cultivating English taste and litera- 
ture, and anglicizing our New World, by our success 
and example. But for this event, our language and 
habits might now have been Dutch or Swedish, or both 
intermixed. Let then our present youth considerwha 
a difference this fact would have made to them^ had not 
circumstances been so altered. 



2* 



18 HISTORIC TALES 



THE ORIGIN OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



William Penn, son of Admiral Penn, having be- 
come, by convincement, a Friend, and wishing to pro- 
vide a place of peace and safety for the people of his 
fellowship — far from " woful Europe," where his soci- 
ety was much persecuted, availed himself of his fa- 
ther's claim upon the crown, to procure thereby a title 
to the land now called Pennsylvania. 

This memorable event in history; this momentous 
concern to us — the founding of Pennsylvania, was con- 
firmed to William Penn under the Great Seal, on the 
5th of January, 168 J. Being thus in possession of his 
title, he proceeded forthwith to allure the good people 
of Europe to its settlement and improvement. He 
pubhshed his terms at 40 shillings per 100 acres. He 
did not sell such small parcels himself, but in " shares" 
of 5,000 acres each, for j£lOO. How very little this 
seems for land, now bringing occasionally from 100 to 
300 dollars an acre, and yet how great is the consider- 
ation that he possessed 26 millions of such acres ! 

The first colony — the venturous pioneers to this new 
state, left England in August, 1681, in three ships; and 
the first arrival was in the ship John and Sarah, from 
London, Captain Smith. The name of this vessel, and 
of this captain, and of those who were passengers 
therein, became memorable in the future city, — as they 
came in later years to be designated as " the first land- 
ers," &.C. by the succeeding generations. When they 



or OLDEN TIME. 19 

had lived to see the rising importance of the growing 
city, they must have felt themselves enobled by their 
identity with its primitive existence. Among those 
primitive names were Nathaniel Allen, John Otter, Ed- 
mund Lovett, Joseph Kirkbride, &-c. 

The other ship, the Amity, Captain Dimon, from 
London, got blown off to the West Indies, and did not 
land her disappointed passengers in Pennsylvania until 
the next spring; the third ship, the Factor, Captain 
Drew, from Bristol, having made as high as the present 
Chester, on the 11th of December, was frozen up the 
same night, and so made their winter there. What a 
cheerless winter it must have been ! How different too 
from their former comforts and homes ! — There seve- 
ral of them had to crowd into little earthy caves and 
huts, constructed for the emergency. 

William Penn — the founder, could not get ready to 
get off with the first colonists, but sent his cousin, Cap- 
tain William Markham, along with them as his deputy. 
Penn sailed from England in August, 1C82, on board 
the ship Welcome, Captain Greenway. The passage 
was good, and the ship well filled with additional pas- 
sengers, mostly Friends of good estate. But having 
had the misfortune to get the smallpox on board, it 
proved fatal to nearly one third of the original hun- 
dred ! What a calamity in the outset ! Poor adventu- 
rers ! — How those evils must have depressed their spir- 
its and embittered their voyage ! What a spectacle to 
see such numbers of their endeared relatives and com- 
panions in peril, cast daily into the deep ! The reci- 
tals of this voyage were dwelt upon by the aged, and 
listened to by the young, in many succeeding years — 



20 HISTORIC TALES 

" They told their marvelling childhood 
Legends store, of their strange ventures !" 

They landed first at New Csistle, on the 27th of Oc- 
tober, 1682, — a day since to be devoted to commemo- 
rative festivals, by those who venerate the founder and 
his primitive associates. Here the founder was hailed 
with acclamations by the Swedes and Dutch, then in- 
habiting that town. The ship with the passengers 
proceeded further up the river to the general rendez- 
vous or settlement. 

Soon afterwards, the 4th of December, William Penn 
convened his first assembly at Upland town, the pre- 
sent Chester, in which, in three days, they passed with 
much unanimity all the laws previously constructed in 
England, consisting of sixty-one subjects, called " the 
Great Law of Pennsylvania." 

By the close of the year 1682, such had been the 
tide of emigration, induced by the popularity of Penn's 
character, as an upright, mild, generous, and wise go- 
vernor, that as many as twenty-three ships had arrived 
with passengers. None of them miscarried, and all of 
them had short passages. 

In those times, the Indians and Swedes were kind 
and active, to bring in and vend at moderate prices, 
proper articles of subsistence. Provisions (says Penn) 
were good and in vast quantities. Wild fowl was in 
abundance. Wild pigeons (says another) were like 
clouds, and often flew so low as to be knocked down 
with sticks. Wild turkeys were sometimes so immode- 
rately fat and large as to have weighed 46 lbs.; — Some 
of 30 lbs. sold for 1 shilling — Deer sold at 2s. a 
piece. The waters abounded with fish ; — six allocs, or 



OF OLDEN TIME. 21 

rocks, were sold for Is., and salt fish at three farth- 
ings a lb. — Oysters were then abundant and excellent, 
— six inches long.—- Peaches could be had by cart- 
loads. 

In the year 1683-4, the emigration was still greater. 
They came from England, Ireland, Wales, Holland 
and Germany. — The Germans came from Cresheim, 
near Worms, mostly of the society of Friends, and 
made their settlement at Germantown. The Welsh 
bought up 40,000 acres of land in 1682, and formed 
their settlements after the names of their native homes, 
— in Merion, Haverfield, Radnor, Newtown, Goshen, 
and Uwchland — others went to Gwynned. 

The whole of Pennsylvania — such as it was for the 
first half century of the settlement, — was comprised 
within the three counties of Philadelphia^ Bucks, and 
Chester ; of these, therefore, we are chiefly to speak in 
the following pages. All beyond these — westward 
and northward, until of later years, consisted of un- 
seated lands, or Indian hunting grounds; — so very mod- 
ern is every thing of improvement and civilization in 
Pennsylvania, which we now behold. Such a country, 
so rapid in its progress — so lately rising from compara- 
tive nothingness, to be " a praise in the earth," may 
well demand our admiration and regard. 

Penn's letter of the 9th of 12th month, 1683, to the 
Marquis of Halifax, says with much truth, " I must 
without vanity say, I have led the greatest colony into 
America, that ever any man did upon a private credit ; 
and the most prosperous beginnings that ever were in it, 
are to he found among us. Since last summer, (he 
adds) we have had about sixty sail of great and^small 



22 HISTORIC TALES 

shipping." — Such self-gratulation was honest and well 
merited : Indeed we cannot forbear to confess the su- 
perior tact and talent which he manifested for a found- 
er, by comparing his rapid success with the slow pro- 
gress of those who preceded him. For, when we con- 
sider how long the Swedes were in possession before 
Penn came — say half a century, — we cannot but feel 
astonished at the very little ability they manifested, for 
producing any thing great or important, commensurate 
with their opportunities. Surely we now would not 
swap our country and condition for all Sweden itself! 

Penn's noble feelings for our country were always 
generous and strong. He came, he said, into the 
charge of the province, " for the Lord's sake" — " He 
hoped, under the Divine aid, to have raised a people 
who should have been a praise in the earth for conduct, 
as well as for civil and religious liberty." — " I wanted 
(says he) to afford an asylum to the good and oppress- 
ed of every nation. I aimed to frame a government 
which might be an example. I desired to show men 
as free and happy as they could Je." Such was our 
Pater Patrice. Can we, the descendants of such 
settlers, do less than love and revere the name of such 
a benefactor ? 

" Go call thy sons, — instruct them what a debt 
They owe their ancestors, and make them vow 
To pay it, — by transmitting down entire 
Those sacred rights to which themselves were born ."* 



OP OLDEN TIME. 23 



THE FIRST SETTLEMENT OF PHILADELPHIA. 



It should be grateful to a contemplative and feeling 
mind ; especially to a descendant of the pilgrim settlers 
of Philadelphia, to revive in the imagination such pic- 
turesque and scenic pictures, as may give to the mind's 
eye the striking incidents of that eventful period. In 
doing this we need not resort to fiction " to adorn our 
moral, or to point our tale ;" for facts, scattered through- 
out the following pages, will fully sustain the primeval 
scene, herein attempted to be laid before our young 
readers. 

Let us then transport the mind back to the original 
site of Quequenaku^ popularly called Coaquanockf so 
called by the Indians from its border line, along the 
margin of the river bank, of lofty spruce-pines, rivalling 
in majesty and evergreen verdure, all the adjacent 
forest foliage ; thus giving to the place selected for a 
city, a peculiarity and rarity, even in the eyes of the un- 
tutored savage, which lovers of the marvellous might 
now regard as something propitious ; even as Taylor 
the astrologer expressed it, — 

" A city built with such propitious rays 
Will stand to see old walls and happy days." 

At such a place, we must see the busy landing of 
families from the anchored barks, and witness their 
chastened joy at once more feeling their conscious tread 
on terra Jirma; then a gravelly strand basing the front 
of the precipitous river banks. There their pious minds 



24 HISTORIC TALES 

felt emotions of gratitude and praise to Him, beneath 
whose eye their voyage had sped ; their hearts tendered, 
they knelt, and praised and prayed. Thus the wife of 
the governor, Thomas Lloyd, as soon as she landed, in 
the fulness of her heart knelt down, and earnestly prayed 
the blessing of heaven on the future city — the city of 
*' brotherly love." 

The beholder might then innocently smile to see the 
unskilled efforts of men, women and children, scram- 
bling up the acclivity to attain the level of the elevated 
platform. It was a place then greatly hke the present 
woody banks at the site up the Delaware, called " the 
Bake house, " by the Poquessink creek, — 

" all shagg'd with wood, 



Where twisted roots, in many a fold 
Through moss, disputed room for hold." 

Such impediments overcome, they gathered beneath 
the dark ever-greens ; — there they meet the welcome 
salutations of the red -natives, — both in mutual wonder 
stand, and ruminate, and gaze. Then the exploring 
eye, ranging on objects all around, beholds behind them 
interminable woods and hanging grape vines, &c. — " a 
boundless contiguity of shade," — and below them, on 
the limpid stream, their own ships amid the paddling 
canoes of the Indians. All has the air of novelty and 
surprise. Their spirits feel many stirring emotions : — 
joy for safe arrival, — a lively sense of inhaling a new 
and genial air, so necessary after the restrictions and 
sickness of sea life ; — even a momentary sadness might 
agitate the bosom from the sense that they were devoid 
of all the wonted accommodations and comforts of 



OF OLDEN TIME. 25 

former home and civilization ; but the prevalent sense 
of escape from " woful Europe," vs^as an antidote, al- 
ways at hand, to repress any murmurings. 

Sustained by a predetermined courage to subdue all dif- 
ficulties, and animated by future hopes of domestic com- 
forts and of social prosperity and happiness, all join in a 
ready resolution to give mutual aid to every enterprise for 
individualor general benefit. Huts and caves are prompt- 
ly resolved on as of paramount consideration. To this 
object trees and underwood must be levelled. At the 
moment of such a beginning, we can readily imagine 
that some pious leader, like Christian David at the first 
settlement of his Christian community, strikes his axe 
into the first tree, exclaiming, " Here hath the sparrow 
found an house and the swallow a nest for himself, even 
thine altars, O Lord God of Hosts!" Here in the 
" sweet quiet," freed from thehurries and perplexities 
of " woful Europe," as feelingly expressed by the 
founder, they could not but consider themselves escaped 
from persecution ; no longer like their fathers, 

" Vex'd fi-om age to age 



By blatant bigotry's insensate rage." 

Preliminaries thus settled, the men and boys choose 
out their several grounds for their temporary hut or 
cabin, called a cave. While some dig into the earth 
about three feet near the verge of the river bank, others 
apply the axe to clear away the underwood or to fall 
trees, whose limbs and foliage may supply sides and 
roofs to their humble dwellings. In other cases, some 
dug sods, and of them formed the sides of their huts. 
To these, chimnies of grass and kneaded clay were set 
3 



26 HISTORIC TALES 

up, — and, lo ! their rude house was finished ! Meanwhile, 
the women, equally busy in their sphere, had lighted 
their fire on the bare earth, and having " their kettle 
slung between two poles upon a stick transverse," thus 
prepared the meal of homely and frugal fare for the re- 
past of the diligent builders. With good cheer and 
kindly feelings, all partake of the sylvan feast. Thus 
refreshed, they speedily bear off their unsheltered furni- 
ture and goods to their several cabins, and feel them- 
selves housed and settled for a season, 

"Where homes of humble form and structure rude 
Raise sweet society in solitude !"* 

In due time, the mind, devoted to better accommoda- 
tion, seeks for its permanent settlement. Then the busy, 
bustling era begins ! First, the surveyor, with much la- 
bour by falling of trees and drawing off brush-wood, 
forms a way through which to draw his '-'• lengthening 
chain," whereby the city plot is made. Lots are then 
to be covered with houses ; and much of their material 
is to be found on the spot. Soon therefore the echoing 
woods resound with the labouring axe and the crash of 
falling trees. The wondering population of the forest 
are amazed at this first break of their long — long si- 
lence, — and starting here and flying there, — beasts and 
birds, — excellent for diet and a luxury to Europeans 
living under the prohibition of'' game laws,"— are shot 
down at frequent occasions, — even while the main de- 

^ Some of those huts were so well constructed as to last for 
several years afterwards ; not only serving the wants of suc- 
ceeding emigrants, but in several cases used by some of base 
sort, in after lime, as homes good enough for low minds. 



OF OLDEN TIME. 



27 



sign was to clear away the deeperabarrassments of the 
soil.* Even the reptiles, deadly and venomous, here first 
felt the assault of the primeval curse,— and '' the ser- 
pent's head is crushed!" But although the astonished 
tenants of the forest, thus feel and fear the busy stir of 
man throughout the day, and find in him an enemy be- 
fore unknown, we may suppose they were not imme- 
diately to be driven from their favourite haunts, but long 
and frequent would they linger round their wonted se- 
curities in the darkness and silence of night. It was 
therefore no strange thing with the primitive populaiion 
to hear occasionally at safe distances, — '' the fox's 
bark, or wolf's lugubrious howl." 

When buildings had thus been generally started, and 
the "clearings" and the "burnings" of the '^ brush- 
wood" and " undergrowth," had begun to mark, in 
rude lines, the originals of the present paved and stately 
streets, we may well imagine the cheerful greetings 
which passed among the settlers as they met, or sur- 
veyed each other's progress. Often they must have 
reciprocally lent each other aid in *' raisings," and other 
heavy operations requiring many hands. How busy 
then the brick makers, — what perpetual burnings of 
their smoking kilns, — what frequent arrivals and de- 
partures of small craft from the Jersies, previously set- 
tled, — of boards and slabs from their saw-mills, ere the 
Pennsylvania mills began. 

We know there were many inequalities in the surface 
of the city plot tiien which we do not perceive now. 

* Pastorius' MS. in my possession, expressly says, he wa? 
often lost in the woods and brush, in going from his cave to 
Bom's house, south-east corner of .Chesnut and Third streets, 
where he procured his bread. 



28 



HISTOBIC TALES 



Some hills were to reduce, and several low or wet and 
miry places to fill up or drain off. In many places the 
most delightful rural beauties, formed by aborescent 
charms, were utterly effaced by '' clearings and burn- 
ings." Even solitary trees of sublime grandeur were 
not spared, from the then prevalent opinion, that dense 
foliage and shades would conduce to fevers. So general 
was the havoc in process of time, that none remained 
of all the crowded forest, save a cluster of black walnut 
trees, which, till of late years, stood opposite the State- 
house on Chesnut street, and guided the stranger to 
that venerable edifice.* 

We may readily conceive that the young people of 
both sexes often formed exploring parties. Wishing to 
see the scenes which environed them, they plunged into 
the deep woods beyond the Dock creek ; thence making 
a great circuit, they have seen the then wild Schuylkill 
shadowed by towering sycamores and oaks, and all the 
intermediate woods crowded with grape vines and 
whortleberries. Being protected from surprise by their 
needful guns, they start or shoot the rabbit, the raccoon, 
perhaps the fox, or the heavy wild turkey. Perhaps 
they liave met with a colony of friendly Indians, and, 
bent on novelty and sport, they have bargained for the 
use of their canoes. Into these slender vessels they 
have huddled, and thus have made a voyage of discovery 
up and down the Manaiunk, endangered all the way by 
the frequent leapings of the reckless sturgeons. t 

* The last of these, which stood in front of J. Ridgway's office, 
was cut down in 1818. I have preserved a relic of it. 

t These were then so numerous, says Penn, that many of 
them could be seen vaulting into the air at once, and often they 
fell into and overset the canoes. 



OF OLDEN TIME, 29 

Even the boys of that day had their rural exploits 
quite close to their own doors. There they could set 
snares and gins for game, and there they were sure of 
trapping rabbits, quails, &;c. What a tramp it must 
have been for the urchins then to get over the great 
Dock creek, and to lose themselves in the mysterious 
wanderings of the opposite woods; there starting and 
pursuing the wild game ; sometimes chasing the fleet 
footed wild turkeys, which disdained to fly while their 
legs could serve their escape. If not so occupied, they 
found employment in gathering shellbarks, walnuts, fil- 
berts, or chesnuts ; or eat of whortleberries, or black- 
berries, as the season and the fruit might serve. 

" But times are alter'd, — trade has chang'd the scene," 

" —— where scatter'd hamlets rose, 

Unwieldy wealth, and cumbrous pomp repose — 
And rural mirth and manners are no more !" 



FURTHER FACTS CONCERINING THE FIRST SETTLEMENT 
OF PHILADELPHIA. 

The following facts, drawn together in this place, will 
serve still further to illustrate the rude and small begin- 
nings of the city, which we now, in a lapse of only 150 
years, behold in such completion and grandeur. 

Mrs. Lyle, an original settler, used to relate to the 
Hon. Charles Thompson, the manner of their' falling 
upon the choice of a location, — saying that after they 
had come to Chester, the whole collection of vessels 
went on up to Burlington. The vessel she sailed in, 
being the dullest sailer, was left behind the others, so 
that at eventide they had reached the present Philadel- 
3* 



30 HISTORIC TALES 

phia ; and not being willing to proceed farther by night, 
in an unknown channel, and finding there a bold shore, 
they made their vessel fast to a large limb of a tree, to 
pass the night. The next morning their captain went 
ashore to make his observations, and being pleased with 
the situation, pursued his walk and investigations until 
he reached the river Schuylkill. When he came back, 
he spoke of the place with raptures, as a fine location 
for a town. This being reported to the colonists when 
they arrived at Burlington, — (settled five years before 
Philadelphia,) several of the leading men, joined by Wil- 
Ham Penn, made a visit to the place ; and eventually it 
became Philadelphia. 

The above story is given as we had it from Mr. 
Thompson, and seems to have many points of agreement 
or coincidence, with the one recorded in Smith's His- 
tory of New Jersey; saying therein, that the first ship 
that ever visited Burlington was the Shield of Stockton 
with settlers from Hull, in 1678. That she, in passing 
the site of the present Philadelphia, while in the act of 
veering, chanced to strike the trees with her sails and 
spars, — and then it was, that the passengers were in- 
duced to exclaim, of its high and bold shore, — " What a 
fine place for a town !" 

Penn's instructions to his commissioners on the 
choice of a site, given before he sailed from England, 
said, " be sure to make your choice where it is most 
navigable, high, dry and healthy." At one time, the 
commissioners had in view to form Philadelphia at the 
mouth of the Poquessink creek in Byberry, along the 
pleasant bank adjoining to " the Bake-house," now 
Morgan's country seat. 



OF OLDEN TIME. 31. 

Pastoriiis, the founder of Germantown, who arrived 
in 1683, describes Philadelphia then as consisting of 
three or four little cottages (such as Edward Drinker's, 
Sven Sener's, &c.) and all the residue being only woods, 
underwood, timber and trees, among which he several 
times lost himself in travelling from his cave, by the 
water side, to the hut of one Bom a Dutch baker, who 
made them their bread. 

When James Harrison and Phineas Pemberton ar- 
rived in November, 1682, by way of Maryland, they 
could not find entertainment for their horses — " they 
therefore spancelled them (by leathern hopples), and 
turned them into the woods ; but when they sought 
them next morning, and for two days afterwards, they 
could not be found ; and one of the horses was not 
found till the succeeding January!" Only think what 
a wide range of woody country they must have enjoyed ! 

In constructing some of the first houses, some of the 
best families had to do the most of the labour them- 
selves. Thus Deborah Morris, who died some years ago, 
has left in writing, concerning her progenitors, " that 
her good aunt Hard willingly volunteered to help her 
husband at one end of the saw, and to fetch all such 
water to make mortar, as was then needful to build their 
chimney." The small house too, formerly occupying 
the site of the present bookstore of the Careys, south- 
east corner of Fourth and Chesnut streets, originally 
built for Carter, had his wife as the carrier of the 
mortar, &;c. 

Mrs. Chandler came to Philadelphia at the first land- 
ing ; having lost her husband on the shipboard, (proba- 
bly from the small-pox,) she was left with eight or nine 



32 HISTORIC TALES 

children. Her companions prepared her the usual 
settlement in a cave on the river bank. She was a sub- 
ject of general compassion. The pity was felt towards 
herself and children, even by the Indians, who brought 
them frequent supplies as gifts. Afterwards a Friend 
who had built himself a house, gave them a share in it. 
In future years, when the children grew up, they always 
remembered the kind Indians, and took many opportu- 
nities of befriending them and their families in return. 
Among these was " old Indian Hannah," the last sur- 
vivor of the race, who lived in Chester county, near 
West Chester ; under which head some account of her 
may be seen in these pages. 

An ancient lady, Rebecca Coleman, arrived at Phila- 
delphia at the first settlement as a young child. At tiie 
door of her cave, when one day sitting there eating milk 
porridge, she was overheard to say again and again ; 
" Now thee shan't again 1" " Keep to thy part I" &c. 
Upon her friends looking to her for the cause, they found 
she was permitting a snake to participate with her out 
of the vessel resting on the ground I Happy simplicity 
and peacefuhiess I — reminding one strongly of the Bible 
promise, when " the weaned child should put its hand 
'upon the cockatrice's den !" &c. The said Rebecca 
Coleman died in 1770, aged 92 years ; of course I have 
even now opportunities of conversing with several who 
were in her company and conversation ! If she had been 
asked to chronicle all the changes and incidents she had 
witnessed, what a mass of curious facts she might have 
left for my present elucidation and use. 

The original inequality of the surface of Philadelphia 
was once much greater than any present observer could 



OP OLDEN TIME. 33 

imagine, and must have been regarded, even at the time 
of the location, as an objection to the site. But we 
can beheve that its fine elevation, combined with its 
proximity to the then important water of Schuylkill 
river, must have determined its choice where we now 
have it. The Delaware front must have been a bluff of 
25 feet elevation, beginning at the Navy yard and ex- 
tending up to Poole's bridge. If that was desirable, as 
it doubtless was, " to have it high and dry," besides the 
supposed conveniency of natural docks for vessels to be 
wintered from the ice at Dock swamp, Pegg's swamp, 
and Cohocsinc mouth or swamp, we cannot but per- 
ceive that no place like it was to be found below it to 
the mouth of Schuylkill, and none above it, after pass- 
ing Kensington, until you approach the Bake-house, 
near Poquessink creek ; and there the water was too 
shallow. Therefore Philadelphia was chosen on the 
very best spot for a city, notwithstanding it had so irre- 
gular a surface then ; evidences of which I have shown 
elsewhere. The probable debates of that day, which 
must have occupied the minds of those who determined 
the location, might now make a curious fancy work ! 
The Penn ideas, (which we know) as compressed into 
few words, are strongly expressed, viz. " It seemed ap- 
pointed for a town, because of its coves, docks, springs, 
and lofty land!" 

When astrological science was much countenanced, 
Jacob Taylor, the Surveyor General, who had been be- 
fore a school-master at Abington, '-'' cast (he nativity" 
of Philadelphia, by calculating the alleged aspect of the 
planets when the city was founded, — and expressed the 



34 HISTORIC TALES 

the result in the following lines, written in the year 1723, 
to wit: 

" Full forty years have now their changes made, 
gince the foundation of this town was laid ; — 
When Jove and Saturn were in Leo join'd, 
They saw the survey of the place designed. 
Swift were these planets, and the world will own, 
Swift was the progress of the rising town. 
The Lion is an active regal sign ; 
And Sol beheld the two superiors join. 
A city built with such propitious rays 
Will stand to see old walls and happy days. 
But kingdoms, cities, men in every state, 
Are subject to vicissitudes of fate. 
An envious cloud may shade the smiling morn, 
Though fates ordain the beaming Sun's return !" 



FIRST INLAND SETTLEMENTS. 

CoTE3iPORARY with the first settlement of Philadel- 
phia, the colonists proceeded into the country, and laid 
the foundation of sundry towns and neighbourhoods ; 
and as this was done while the country was in a wilder- 
ness state, and in the midst of the Indian natives, it 
may justly interest our young readers to learn the ear- 
liest known facts concerning several of such settle- 
ments ; to this end, we shall relate sundry incidents 
concerning Pennsbury, Bucks county, Chester and 
Chester county, Byberry, Gwynned, Germantown, 
Frankford, Lancaster, 6ic. 



OF OLDEN TIME. 36 

SETTLEMENT OF CHESTER COUNTY. 

This county originally contained within its limits the 
present county of Delaware, and they together form- 
ed one of the first settled counties in the state. The 
first settlers were generally of the society of Friends, 
and now their descendants mostly occupy the south 
eastern and middle townships. The Welsh settled 
along the '* Great Valley," a fine region of land, of 
from one to three miles wide, traversing the whole 
county from east to west ; — the Irish Presbyterians 
settled in the south west ; and the English intermixed 
generally throughout the whole county. Many of the 
townships are of Welsh origin, as is indicated by their 
names, — such as Tredyflin, Uwchland, the Cains, 
Nantmels, &c. Other names indicate lands formerly 
belonging to the London company, such as London 
Grove, New London, London Britain, Birmingham, &c. 

The appearance of the fruitful and picturesque coun- 
try of the " Great Valley," is well worth a visit from 
the youth of our city. It comprises nearly 50,000 
acres of choicest lands, and is bordered on either side, 
by long continuous ranges of high ridges, called North 
and South Hills. From their summits, there are some- 
times very extensive and beautiful views — such as 
might lead out the young mind to conceive of those 
much greater elevations, " the Blue Mountains," and 
the great Allegheny " Backbone of the State." 

The Brandywine, running through this county, is a 
fine stream, aflbrding much profitable " water power," 
and some very picturesque scenery. Brantewein (Bran- 
dy) is a word of Teutonic origin, which might have 
been used equally by the Swedes and Dutch to express 



36 HISTORIC TALES 

its brandy-coloured stream. Certain it is, that at all 
early periods, after the river lost its Indian names of 
Minquas and Suspecough, it was written Biandywine. 

Since the county sustained the separation of Dela- 
ware county, the county town has been located at 
West-Chester, a very growing place, and possessing a 
genteel and intelligent population. At this place are 
the original records of Delaware county, and of course 
affording to the curious inquirer the means of explo- 
ring the antiquarian lore of the primitive days. 

As our business is to show to the present rising gen- 
eration the great difference between the present and 
the remote past, when all was coarse and rustic, we 
shall subjoin some scraps of information illustrative of 
such change — to wit : 

Mr. William Worrell, who died but a few years 
since, — an inhabitant of Marple township, at the ad- 
vanced age of nearly 100 years — says, that in the 
country there were no carts, much less carriages ; but 
that they hauled their grain on sleds to the stacks, 
where a temporary threshing-floor was made. He re- 
membered to have assisted his father to carry on horse- 
hack 100 bushels of wheat to mill in Ilaveiford, which 
was sold there for but 2^. a bushel. The natural 
meadows and woods were the only pasture for their 
cattle; and the butchers of Philadelphia would go out 
and buy one, two, or three head of cattle, from such 
as could spare them, as all their little surplus. 

He recollected when there were great quantities of 
wild turkies ; and a flight of pigeons whicii lasted two 
days ! Only think of such a spectacle ! They flew in 
such immense flocks, that they obscured the rays of 



OF OLDEN TIME. 37 

the sun ! One night they settled in such numbers at 
Martin's bottom, that persons who visited them, could 
not hear one another speak, by reason of their strong 
whirring noise. Their weight on the branches of the 
trees was so great, as to break off numerous large 
limbs ! 

He never saw coffee or tea until he was twenty 
years of age ; then his father brought some tea from 
Philadelphia, and his aunt did not know how to use it, 
till she got information first from a more refined neigh- 
bour. On another occasion a neighbour boiled the 
leaves and buttered them ! 

In going to be married, the bride rode to meeting 
behind her father or next friend, seated on a pillion ; — 
but after the marriage, the pillion was placed with her 
behind the saddle of her husband. The dead were 
carried in coffins on the shoulders of four men, who 
swung the coffin on poles, so that they might proceed 
along narrow paths with most ease. 

Another ancient inhabitant, William Mode, who 
died on the west branch of the Brandy wine in 1829, 
at the age of 87 years, said, he well remembered the 
Indians — men, women and children, — coming to his 
father's house to sell baskets, &c., and that they used 
to cut and carry oflf bushes from their meadow, proba- 
bly for mats to sleep on. The deer, in his boyhood, 
were so plenty, that their tracks in the wheat field, in 
time of snow, were as if marked by a flock of sheep : 
at one time his father brought home two of them on 
his sled. Wild turkies in the winter were often seen 
in flocks, feeding in the corn and buckwheat fields. 
Foxes often carried off their poultry ; once their man, 
4 



38 HISTOEIC TALES 

knocked one down near the barn. Squirrels, rabbits, 
racoons, pheasants and partridges abounded. 

Samuel Jefferis, too, a man of 87 years, who died at 
West-Chester in 1828, said he could well remember 
when deer were plenty in the woods of Chester coun- 
ty, and when a hunter could occasionally kill a bear. 
He also had seen several families of Indians still in- 
habiting their native fields. 

This county still contains some of the oldest inns, 
known in the annals of our country. — Thus, Powell's 
Journal of 1 754, speaks of his stopping on the way to 
Lancaster, at "the Buck," by Ann Miller— at "the 
Vernon," by Ashton, (now "the Warren") — "the 
White horse," by Hambright— " The Ship," by Tho- 
mas Park — " the Red Lion," by Joseph Steer — and 
" the Waggon," by James Way, &c. 

Chester county is also distinguished as being the 
theatre of some important events in the revolution, — 
such as " the battle of Brandywine," the " massacre 
of Paoli," and the winter quarters of our army at " the 
Valley Forge." The battle ground of the Brandywine. 
near where Lafayette was wounded, may be still visited 
at tiie Birmingham meeting-house of Friends. There, 
if you see the grave-digger turning up the grave 
ground, you may possibly see the bones of some 
British soldier at only two feet under ground, with 
fragments of his red coat, his stock-buckle, buttons, 
&c. ! You may be even shown some old gold coin 
found concealed once in the great cue of a buried Hes- 
sian ! If you ramble down to "Chads-ford," not far dis- 
tant, you may still see remains of the little redoubt which 
disputed the ford ; and there, as a relic of silenced war 



OF OLDEN TIME. 39 

and bloodshed, pick up an occasional bullet or grape- 
shot. The county was at one time much disturbed, 
and made withal remarkable, for a predatory hero in 
the time of the revolution. He was usually called 
"Captain Fitz," but his real name was James Fitz 
Patrick. He roamed the country in stealth as a 
** British refugee," making his attacks upon the chat- 
tels of the " staunch whigs," and seemingly delighting 
in his perils and escapes. His whole character, made 
him a real Rob Roy of his time. At last he was 
seized and executed. 

The state of the American army at the Valley Forge, 
in the drear winter of 1777-8, was an extremely perilous 
and suffering one. Tiiey were kept in necessary fear 
from so superior a force as Howe's well-appointed 
army; whereas, our's was suffering the need of almost 
every thing. An ofHcer, an eye-witness, has told me, that 
a sufficiency of food or clothing could not be had ; that 
so many men were without whole shoes, that several ac- 
tually marked the snowy ground with their bloody foot- 
steps ; some while on duty as sentinels, have doffed 
their hats to stand in, to save their feet from freezing ; 
of salt beef or pork, they could not get a supply, 
and fresh beef was wholly impracticable to get at all ; 
vegetables they got none. Otie wooden or pewter 
dish answered for a whole mess ; and one horn tum- 
bler, in which whiskey rarely entered, served for seve- 
ral. Much of their diet was salted herrings, too much 
decayed to bear separation ; but were dug out of the 
cask en masse. Sugar and coffee were luxuries not 
seen ; and paper money, with which they were paid for 
such severities, was almost nothing ! 



40> HISTORIC TALES 

If such were the calamities of war, and such the 
price they paid for our self-government, oh ! how great- 
ly should we, their descendants, prize the precious 
boon ! Maddened be the head, and palsied be the 
hand, that should attempt to despoil us of a treasure so 
dearly purchased ! 

Some further particulars of this county will be 
found connected with " Penn's Landing at Chester," 
and with the article " Indians," about Indian Hannah, 
a native of this county, " Last of the Lenape !" 



SETTLEMENT OF BUCKS C0UJ\TY. 

This county had its first settlers located nearest to 
the neighbourhood of Bristol and Pennsbury. They 
were nearly all of them of the Society of Friends ; 
among these, James Harrison and Phineas Pemberton, 
were most influential and conspicuous. Strong expec- 
tations were entertained by these first settlers, that the 
city of Philadelphia might have been located at either 
of those chief places ; but it was deemed that the river 
channel was too shallow for ship navigation. 

All the first settlers who arrived were obliged to 
bring certificates of acceptable character, and to be 
enrolled in a record-book— which I have seen — kept by 
P. Pemberton, as clerk of the court, giving therein the 
names of the parents, number of children, names and 
number of servants, and the vessels by which, and at 
what time, arrived. This, it must be granted, forms a 
curious record of consultation now, and may show some 
families their '' ancestorial bearings" then. 

The Indians were round about in small settlements 
in almost every direction. Some, long after, dwelt on 



OF 0L]UPN TIME. 41 

the "Indian Field," near Penn's estate at Pennsbury, 
and some at Ingham's Spring ; others were on the 
Pownell tract, the Streiper tract, and Fell tract. The 
last of the Indian race went off from Buckingham in a 
body, in the year 1775. The general state of Woody- 
wastes, was much the same as has been already de- 
scribed in the county of Chester. The Indian practice 
of burning the underbrush in the woods, made the 
woods in general easy of traversing and exploring. 

The people of Bucks county have been, from the 
earliest settlement, trained and disciplined to a kindly 
spirit of good neighbourhood and frank hospitality. It 
arose at first from their universal brotherhood and mu- 
tual dependence ; and it was long kept alive by the 
unreserved welcome, forever cherished, under their 
eyes, by the Indians settled about them. A true Indian 
never deems any thing too good for his friend or 
visitor. 

The greater part of the centre grounds of Bucks 
county were located as early as 1700. Such was Buck- 
ingham and Solesbury. Among the first of those settlers 
there, were Thomas and John Byle, William Cooper, 
George Pownall, Roger Hartley, and other Friends, 
from the neighbourhood of" Falls Meeting." Thomas 
Watson arrived and settled among them in 1704. For 
the first few years, considerable of their supplies of 
grain for any new comers had to be drawn from the 
Falls, or Middletown ; and until 1707, they had to take 
all their grain on horseback, for grinding, to Gwin's 
Mill, on the Pennepack, near to the Billet. In the 
mean time, many persons had to be content to pound 
their grain at home in wooden mortars. Several of the 
4^^ 



42 histork;^ tales 

houses of the original settlers are still standing. Such 
a house, built for Thomas Canby, now belongs to 
Joshua Anderson. The great portion of the houses 
were constructed of logs, and called log-houses, a rude 
but very comfortable kind of building. 

Improved land was generally sold by the acre, at the 
nominal price or value of twenty bushels of wheat ; so 
that when wheat was at 2s. 6d. a bushel, the land was 
actually sold at 505. 

The women were always industrious, clothing their 
families in general by their own hands — spinning and 
weaving for all their inmates, all the necessary linen 
and woollen clothing. For common diet, milk and 
bread and pie formed the breakfast meal ; and good 
pork or bacon, and a wheat-flour pudding or dumplings, 
with butter and molasses, were given for dinner. Mush, 
or hominy, with milk and butter and honey, formed the 
supper. Chocolate was only occasionally procured, 
and used with maple sugar ; and deer-meat and turkeys, 
when the season answered. 

Only a few of the wealthiest farmers had any wagons 
before the year 1745; about the year 1750 was the 
time of their more common use. Carts were the most 
in use for going to market. John Wells, Esq. was the 
only person who then had a riding-chair. Taverns were 
scarcely known any where ; the one at Coryell's Ferry 
was the first. 

After the year 1750, a new era seemed to commence, 
by the influx of more wealth among the people. Bohea 
tea and coffee were introduced, and sundry articles of 
foreign fabric for the farmers' wives, brought among 
them by the pedlers, — such as silk and linen neckhkfs., 



OF OLDEN TIME. 43 

some silk or figured linen gowns. The men, too, began 
to wear vests and breeches of Bengal, nankeen, fustian, 
or black everlasting, and cotton velvet. Coats also 
were made of the latter. But no man or woman, in 
any condition of life, ever held themselves above the 
wear — for common purposes — of homemade " linsey- 
woolsey," of linen or woollen fabric. 

Bucks county has the honour of having had located, 
at the forks of the Neshamina, the once celebrated 
''Log College," so called, of the Rev. William Ten- 
nant, commenced there in 1721 ; and from it issued 
some of our best men of earliest renown. It was then 
*' the day of small things." 

Bucks county, in the period of the revolution, was 
made conspicuous, by a daring " refugee family," called 
the Doans. Their numerous perilous adventures, in 
scouring the country for " whig families," and to make 
their plunder on such, brought them into great renown 
as bold desperadoes. There were five brothers of them, 
severally fine looking men, and expert horsemen. Great 
rewards were oflfered for them ; and finally, two were 
shot in combat, and two were apprehended and ex- 
ecuted. They were far above ordinary robbers, being 
very generous and humane to all moderate people. 
The whigs had injured them, and they sought revenge 
at the hazard of their lives. 



PENKSBURY. 

This was the name of Penn's country place and 
mansion — sometimes called his " palace" — in Bucks 
county, situated on the margin of the Delaware river, 
below Bordentown. There William Penn and his family 



44 HISTORIC TALES 

lived, during part of his stay among us in the years 
1700 and 1701. There, he often entertained Indians, 
and held treaty-covenants, religious meetings, &c. The 
place was constructed in 1682-3, at great expense for 
that day, having cost £7000, and having considerable 
of the most finished or ornamental materials brought 
out from England. The mansion was 60 feet in front, 
by 40 feet in depth ; the garden, an ornamental and 
sloping one, lay along the river-side in front of it ; and 
numerous offices were in a front line with the dwelling. 
All that now remains, is the house now occupied by 
Robert Crozier — the same building of wood which was 
originally formed for Penn's family " brew-house." 

After Penn had gone back to England, his place was 
retained some time in hopes of his return. His furni- 
ture was long preserved there ; and finally got sold and 
spread about in Bucks county. His clock, and his 
writing-desk and secretary, I have seen. For many 
years the people of Burlington used to make visits to 
the place, because of its associations with so distin- 
guished a man — " a hallowed haunt, though but in ruins 
seen." Beneath a great grove of walnut-trees, they 
used to regale, and take their refreshments. A leaden 
reservoir on the top .of the house, kept there for retain- 
ing water as a security against fire, got to leaking, and 
caused the building to fall into premature decay, so that 
at the era of the revolution, it was torn down, with an 
intention to rebuild another ; but the war prevented 
that design. While it rested in a state of decay, it had 
a furnished chamber, hung with fine tapestry, and in 
which the family descendants were intended to be lodg- 
ed in case of visits. This, from its being so seldom 



OF OLDEN TIME. 45 

opened, and when seen, presenting so many tokens of 
musty and cob-web interior, got the reputation of "the 
spirit-room," and was deemed to be a haunted cham- 
ber ! All who used to visit the premises in years long 
since, were accustomed to take away some relics of 
the place. Some such I have preserved, — such as the 
carved side of the door, and a piece of the bed-cover, 
curiously worked by Lastitia Penn. In the Memoirs of 
the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, is a memoir by 
J. F. Watson, containing sundry facts concerning this 
memorable place. In the Pennsylvania Hospital, is 
Penn's chair, taken from this mansion. 

The country immediately around — through Penn's 
manor — presents a generally level and rich^soil ; but its 
aspect from the river side, is quite low and tame. For- 
merly a creek — now dry — run round behind the man- 
sion, at some distance, forming the farm into an island, 
and being crossed at places by bridges. At those 
places Penn once had his pleasure-barge, and some 
small vessels. 



SETTLEMENT OF BYBEREY. 

This township was settled as early as Philadelphia 
itself The first Englishmen who explored it were four 
brothers of the name of Walton^ who had landed at 
New Castle, and set out on foot to make their discove- 
ries and choice of location. When they came to By- 
berry, they were much pleased with a spot of open 
grass-land, and determined to make it their permanent 
home. They soon got a few acres into wheat, although 
they had to go back as far as Chester to procure their 
seed. 



46 HISTORIC TALES 

These were soon after joined by other settlers, among 
whom were Comly, Carter, Rush, and others, — the latter 
named was the ancestor of the distinguished Dr. Rush. 
The greater part of the first settlers were Friends, 
which for numerous years afterwards gave to the coun- 
try the ascendency of Friends' principles and manners. 
It was, therefore, for many years the preferred spot of 
visitation for the remaining Indians, numbers of whom 
used to gather annually from Edge Pillock and other 
places in New Jersey, forming little colonies, which 
would sit down at favourite places in the woods, and 
subsist a while on the land-turtles they could catch, and 
the game they could kill. In these woods they gathered 
their supply of materials for making baskets, spoons, 
and ladles, bows and arrows, &c., and saying as their 
apology, that their forefathers had reserved such rights 
in their disposal of the territory. The people were too 
kind to them to dispute their privilege, and they con- 
tinued to visit unmolested until the period of the revo- 
lution. 

The frank and generous hospitality of the Indians to 
the original settlers, deserved a kind and generous re- 
turn. The descendants of the original settler, Carver, 
have told me of a striking case of kindness. When his 
family was greatly pinched for bread-stuff, and knew of 
none nearer than Chester or New Castle, they sent out 
their children to some neighbouring Indians, intending 
to leave them there, until they could have food for them 
at home ; but the Indians took off the boys' trowsers, 
tied the legs full of corn, and sent them back thus sea- 
sonably loaded. 

Byberry is remarkable for having been once destined 



OF OLDEN TIME. 47 

as the location of Philadelphia city ! At the lower or 
southern side of the mouth of the Poquessink creek, is 
a pretty elevation of table-land, conforming to the line 
of the river Delaware, covered with a range of pine 
trees and others, intermixed, and showing now a primi- 
tive state and character, such as we understand Phila- 
delphia itself originally had. Our youth who pass it in 
the steam boats should observe it. This site had once 
been surveyed and plotted as Philadelphia ; and this cir- 
cumstance, for numerous years afterwards, caused it to 
be called, popularly, " Old Philadelphia." It is now a 
part of the country-seat of Mr. Morgan ; — and his pre- 
sent mansion, altered and repaired, was once cele- 
brated as " the Bake-house," at which, on a large 
scale, biscuit were baked for sea service, and for the 
continental army. 

So many of the descendants of the primitive inhab- 
itants still occupy in prosperity the places of their fore- 
fathers, and give perpetuity to the names of so many 
original settlers, that it is gratifying now, to ride 
through their township, and to witness the comforts 
enjoyed by them. 

This love of visiting and contemplating places filled 
with local impressions, generated by the events and 
doings of our forefathers, is one of the strongest and 
purest feelings of our nature, and one which we wish 
to foster, with warm-hearted interest, in these pages. 
It flings over the imagination a delightful spell, where 
fancy draws those pictures of the past, more home- 
bred, social and endearing, when viewed glimmering 
through the mist of years. With thoughts like these, 
we are prompted to add in conclusion, some extracts 



48 HISTORIC TALES 

from a letter written with pathos and feeling by the 
celebrated Doctor Rush, to the honorable John Adanis 
— his warm and social friend, on the occasion of his 
visit to Byberry, in 1812, to see the old Home- 
stead, and to revive the images of his childhood and de- 
parted kindred ; — even its length, in this place, will be 
excused by these who know how to appreciate such pure 
emotions, so prompted by country and home. Such 
feelings are full of poetry and sensibility, and may some 
day present to some future Byberry poet, the theme of 
a touching poem I 

When silent time with lightly foot, 

Had trod o'er fifty years, 
He sought again his native spot 

With grateful thoughts and tears; — 
When he drew nigh his ancient home 

His heart beat all the way, — 
Each place he pass'd, seem'd still to speak, 
Of some dear former day. 

"I was called," says he, "lately to visit a patient in 
that neighborhood, and having with me my youngest son, 
I thought I would avail myself of the occasion to visit 
the farm on which I was born, and where my ances- 
tors for several generations had lived and died. In ap- 
proaching it, I was agitated in a manner 1 did not ex- 
pect. The access was altered, but every thing around, 
was nearly the same as in the days of my boyhood, at 
which time I left it. The family there, though stran- 
gers to me, received me kindly, and discovered a dis- 
position to satisfy my curiosity and gratify my feelings. 
I soon asked permission to conduct my son up stairs to 
see the room in which I drew my first breath and made 
my first unwelcome noise in the world, and where first 



OP OLDEN TIME. 49 

began the affection and cares of my beloved and excel- 
lent mother. I next asked for a large cedar tree which 
once stood before the door, — planted by my father's 
hand. It had been converted into the pillars of the pi- 
azza before the house. Filled with emotion, I em- 
braced the one nearest me. I next inquired for the 
orchard planted by the same hand, and was conducted 
to an eminence behind the house, where I saw a num- 
ber of apple trees which still bore fruit, to each of 
which I felt something like the affection of a brother. 
The building, which is of stone, bears marks of age 
and decay. On one of the stones near the front door, 
I discovered the letters J. R. Before the house flows 
a small but deep creek, abounding in pan-fish. The 
farm consists of ninety acres, in a highly cultivated 
state. The owner did not want to sell ; but I begged, 
if he ever should incline to dispose of it, to make me 
or one of my surviving sons the first offer. While I 
sat in its common room, I looked at its walls, and 
thought how often they had been made vocal by my 
ancestors — to conversations about wolves, bears and 
snakes, in the first settlement ; afterwards, about cows 
and calves, and colts, and lambs, &c. and at all times, 
with prayers and praises, and chapters read audibly 
from the Bible; for all who inhabited it of my family, 
were pious people — chiefly of the sect of Quakers and 
Baptists. On my way home, I stopped to view a fami- 
ly graveyard, in which were buried three and part of 
four successive generations, all of whom were the de- 
scendants of Captain John Rush, who with six sons 
and three daughters, followed William Penn to Penn- 
sylvania, in 1683. He had been a captain of a troop 
6 



HISTORIC TALES 



Of horse under Oliver Cromwell ; and when I first 
settled ,n Philadelphia, I was sometimes visited by one 
of his grandsons, a man of 85 years of age, who had, 
when a boy, often seen and conversed with the former, 
and especially concerning his services under the Pro- 
tector. I retain as his relics, his sword, watch and 
bible-Ieaf, on which is inscribed in his own hand,— his 
marriage, and children's birth and names. My grand- 
father, James Rush, after whom my son, the physician, 
IS named, has his gravestone and inscription in the 
aforesaid grave-ground~as "departed this life, March 
16, 1727, aged 48 years, &c." He was a farmer and 
gunsmith, of much ingenuity in his business. While 
standing and considering this repository of the dead, 
there holding my kindred dust, my thoughts ran wild] 
and my ancestors seemed to stand before me in their 
homespun dresses, and to say, what means this gentle^ 
man, by thus intruding upon our repose ; and I seem- 
ed to say— Dear and venerable friends, be not disturb- 
ed. I am one who inherits your blood and name, and 
come here to do homage to your Christian and moral 
virtues ; and truly, I have acquired nothing from the 
world (though raised in fame,) which I so highly prize 
as the religious principles which I inherited from you ; 
—and I possess nothing that I value so much as the 
mnocence and purity of your characters. After my 
return from such a visit, I recounted in the evening to 
my family, the incidents of the day, to which they lis- 
tened with great pleasure ; and heartily they partook of 
sorne cherries, from the limb of my father's tree, which 
my little son brought home with him as a treat to them." 
Such a letter, from such an eminent man, conse- 



OF OLDEN TIME. 51 

crates to kindly remembrance, such liallowed localities; 
— It gives to me, if I needed it, a sufficient apology for 
thus enlarging this chapter on recollections and inci- 
dents of Byberry. They will come home to the bo- 
soms of many. 

There is not a spot in this wide-peopled earth, 

So dear to tlie heart as the land of our birth; 

'Tis the home of our childhood, the soul-touching spot, 

Which mem'ry retains when all else is forgot I 

A letter written under such circumstances, does 
more to illustrate the character and the heart of the 
writer, than a volume of common biography. The 
visit of such a man to the graves of his ancestors, cre- 
ates a stirring at the heart of the sensitive reader. 
There is piety in it — an enthusiasm and holiness of 
feeling devoted to the dead, which give character and 
immortality to him who cherished them. His feelings 
were far better and more pure than to be borne aloft 
hy his renown, amidst the hosannas of the people. Tn 
such a place for thought — for mental abstraction, how 
withdrawn from the tempests which sweep over the 
world's affairs! What a rest to the heart! — The fan- 
cy only is busy, when it there cons over the former 
employments, business, joys, sorrows, hopes and fears, 
of those now beneath his tread. The world's glory — 
its highest ambition, quickly fades and dies before the 
tranquil pleasures of such an hour as this. Such a 
home is consecrated by such a letter, and should be 
perpetuated and visited as the solum natale of a man 
both good and great. One cannot forbear the wish 
that the sons of such a father, should long possess the 
home and there preserve the simple and touching nar- 



52 HISTORIC TALES 

rative of such a parent! I would inscribe such a let- 
ter upon its tvalls for ever — Esto tu perpetua. 



SETTLEMENT OF GERMANTOWN. 

The lands of this township of 5,700 acres, were ori- 
ginally taken up in 1683, by Francis D. Pastorius, 
Esq. a Friend, from Germany, acting as an agent for 
the Frankfort Company. 

The proper town of Germantown, was constituted 
into a borough, under a patent from William Penn, of 
the year. 1689; — of this borough, Pastorius was made 
first Bailiff; but in the year 1706, the town was suffer- 
ed voluntarily to lose its charter, from the unwillingness 
of the principal men to serve in courts of justice, 
wherein oaths might be required. Strange to tell, this 
town, now so populous and so ancient — even as Phila- 
delphia itself, has never since chosen to become again 
a borough corporation ! 

Almost all of the first settlers were of the society 
of Friends, from Germany — from Crefelt, Cresheim, 
and Frankfort. For some time they held their meet- 
ings at the house of Tunis Kunderts ; afterwards, in 
1706, they built their Hrst meeting-house, of stone, on 
the site now their grave-ground. This society was the 
first to agitate the question of the injustice of holding 
slaves. One of the first settlers — Wishert Levering, 
lived to the age of 109 years, and died in 1744. 
Arents Klincken came from Holland in 1682, and 
built the first two story house in the place — his friend 
William Penn was present, and partook of the " rais- 
ing dinner." It is still standing, — built of stone. The 
house of stone and wood — marked 1682, is still stand- 



OF OLDEN TIME. 53 

ing in Gouge's meadow, where the first family of Shoe- 
maker lived, and where William Penn, standing on a 
rock in the lot, near the door, preached to the people. 
Several of the oldest houses are still standing, of one 
story, built of logs, and the interstices filled with river- 
rushes and clay, intermixed. In a house of 90 years of 
age, taken down, the grass intermixed in the clay, was 
as green as when cut ! The windows generally were 
small and set in leaden frames. 

As early as the year 1700, there were four hermits 
living in the neighbourhood — say, John Seelig, John 
Kelpius, Conrad Mathias, and one Bony. In later 
years, Benjamin Lay also settled near by, in a cave, as 
a hermit. All these were such from religious purposes; 
Kelpius and Seelig were scholars, who came out with 
forty others from the colleges in Germany, to seek a 
wilderness life, and to rest for the '* coming of the 
bride," mentioned in the Revelations ! Several of the 
MS. books of Kelpius are still in existence, and are 
preserved as curiosities ; his journal and diary I have 
seen in Latin. He lived a holy and blameless life, and 
died young, while sitting in his garden, now the premises 
of Phebe Riter, in Roxborough, where he had his cave, 
near to the spring now there. 

The Mnenonists built their first meeting house of 
logs, in 1708, near where now stands their house of 
stone. They were at first more numerous than now. 

The Tunkers came out from Germany in 1709, and 
held their first gathering as a meeting at the log-house 
now in front of their present stone church. Alexander 
Mack, a rich miller from Germany, was their first 
leader and preacher. Many years ago, when the Tun- 
6* 



54 HISTORIC TALES 

kers were numerous at Ephrata, they used to make 
visits of love, to those in Germantovvn, walking one 
after the other in Indian file, to the number of forty to 
fifty persons ; all bare headed, and all habited with long 
coats, hooded like the Dominican friars. 

It was not till after the revolution, that English was 
spoken in the place, except occasionally. German 
preaching was retained in the churches till within a few 
years'. The Academy, called the " Public School,'* 
built in 1760, had full one half of it occupied by German 
scholars. There were even somelndian boys as scho- 
lars there. A German Newspaper was printed as early 
as 1739, by C. Sower, 

The first Grist Mill set up in Philadelphia county 
was that latterly called Luken's or Roberts's Mill, in 
Church lane, just one mile north east from the Market 
Square. It was erected as early as 1683, by Richard 
Townsend, a public Friend : he has left this relation of 
facts, to wit: that the people brought their grist on their 
back, save one man, who brought it on a tame bull. 
On one occasion, while he was mowing in his meadow, 
a young deer came so near that he struck it down and 
secured it for diet in a time of great need. 

It was at Germantovvn, they first used the invention 
of " Jamb stoves," the same, essentially, which have 
been since known as "Ten-plate Stove?." They were 
made for C. Sower. The same Sower cast his printing 
types, and printed the first quarto Bible in the colonies. 

Godfrey, the inventor of the quadrant, was born near 
Germantowp, and also Rittenhouse, the philosopher. 
James Logan was long a resident at Stenton farm close 
by. His mansion was built like a palace, in 1728, and 



OP OLDEN TIME. 56 

the country was then so new, that a bear about the same 
time, came and leaped over the garden fence. 

Anthony Johnson, who died in 1823, aged 78 years, 
had seen a large bear near Chew's house in his youth ; 
and his father had shown him, near the present R. 
Haines' house, where he had seen six wolves in one 
gathering I In 1721, a bear was killed in Germantown, 
and was so published in the City Gazette ; and two more 
still nearer the city, were mentioned at the same time. 
Forty years ago a flock of six wild turkies were killed 
at the Wissahicon mills. 

Germantown was once a place in which two distin- 
guished conjurors, or " diviners for money," flourished: 
say Dr. Witt, and old Shrunk. The superstition then, 
was very great about witchcraft and ghosts ; and many 
people came from a distance to inquire for stolen goods, 
and to ask cures for strange or bewitched diseases. 
One of the conjurors had for his sign some German 
verses, saying, " What God has given me, let no man 
despise," &c. 

Some of the finest scenery, for rocky and woody wild- 
ness, is to be seen along the banks of the Wissahicon ; 
well worth the ride and the inspection of all the inquir- 
ing youths of Philadelphia. The grounds of German- 
town, too, are all rendered interesting by the events of 
the war of the Revolution. The inhabitants can still 
show where sundry British oflFicers dwelt, and where 
their sections of command were stationed : and above 
all, point out all the grounds where the memorable battle 
of Germantown was begun and sustained at Chew's 
house, (^c. Bullets and balls from the fields are still 
turned out by the plough, where they had been scattered 



56 HISTORIC TALES 

among the combatants. For many years after that 
strife, the boys could supply themselves with leaden 
balls for their chuckers and pencils ; and often they 
could gather iron balls to sell to the blacksmiths for a 
few spending pennies. 



SETTLEMENT OF NOREFSTOWN. 

This place, now so beautiful and numerous in houses, 
is a town wholly built up since the war of independence. 
At that time, it was the farm of John Bull ; and his 
original farm house is now standing in the town, as 
the inn of Richard Richardson. 

As early as the year 1704, the whole manor, as it 
was then called, which included the present township 
of Norrington, was sold out by William Penn, jr. for 
£850. From Isaac Norris, one of the purchasers, the 
place has since taken its name. 

The original settlers about the neighbourhood of 
Norristown, Swedes Ford, ^^c, were Swedes, who 
much inclined to settle along the banks of the Schuyl- 
kill, and like the Indians, to make free use of their ca- 
noes for travelling conveyances. The Swedes church 
not far ofl', was much visited by worshippers going there 
in their boats ; and in still later times, when horses be- 
came a means of conveyance, it was common for a man 
and woman to ride together on one horse, the women 
wearing for economy '' safe-guard petticoats," which 
they took off after arrival, and hung along the fence 
until again required. 

There are still remains below Norristown, nearly 
fronting the Ford, of a long line of redoubts, made by 
the Americans under the direction of Gen. Du Porteuil, 



OP OLDEN TIME. 



67 



to defend the passage of the Ford against the British ap- 
proaching from the battle of Brandywine, and which 
had the effect to compel them to pass six miles higher 
up the river at '* Fatland Ford." Some of the cannon 
in an angle of the redoubt have since washed into the 
river bank, and may at some future day surprise a dis- 
coverer ! 

It was on the river bank at Norristown, that the frst 
spade wixs set to excavate the Jirst public canal Sitiempted 
in the United States ! This should be remembered ! 
It was indeed abortive for want of adequate funds, as 
well as economy ; but it tested the early spirit of enter- 
prise of our leading citizens, — acting a few years in 
advance of the age in which they dwelt. This fact in con- 
nection with the MS. account of Mr. John Thomson of 
Delaware county, of his early adventure in a boat, the 
White Fish, by a navigation from Niagara to Phila- 
delphia, by the water courses in New York state; showing 
beforehand, the practibility of the Grand Canal of New 
York, are so many evidences of oz/r early efforts in the 
" Canal system !" The boat, after so singular a voyage, 
was laid up in the Statehouse yard in the year 1796, 
and visited as a curiosity. A sight of that boat, and 
a knowledge of the facts connected with it, is supposed 
to have prompted president Washington, at that early 
period, to write of his conviction of the practicability of 
a union of the waters of the lakes with the ocean. A 
subject, happily for all, now no longer a problem. 

FRANKFORD. 

The site of Frankford was originally held as the saw- 
mill seat of a Swede, before Penn's arrival. That mill 



58 HISTORIC TALES 

seat is the same now Duffield's Mill power and esta- 
blishment. It was first deeded to Yeaman Gillingham, 
by Penn's Commissioners in 1695 ; and afterwards was 
constructed into a Grist Mill, Saw Mill, &c. 

The aged Giles Gillingham, who died at Frankford 
in 1825, at the age of 93 years, said that when he was 
a boy there, it was quite common for him to play with 
Indian lads in the neighbourhood. Frankford then had 
but very few houses, and was often called Oxford, after 
the name of its township. About the time of Brad- 
dock's defeat, there came an Indian from a distance, 
blowing a horn as he entered the Indians' place; they soon 
went off with him, and were no more seen near there. 

There has been an opinion prevalent about Frank- 
ford village, that it derived its name from Frank, a black 
fellow, and his fordf where he kept a ferry for pas- 
sengers on foot ; but besides its looking too artificial to 
be true, there are obvious reasons against, that cause of 
its name. I see it as early as 1701 referred to in a 
public petition concerning a road under the name of 
" Frankford:" besides, it lies on the creek, the Indian 
Wingohocking, which comes from the " Frankford 
Company's land" in Germantown. It was their proper 
water passage to the river. 

Jonathan Dickinson, in 1 7 1 5, when writing respecting 
*' Fairman's land at Frankford creek," says, *' a ford 
there will be very needful and very expensive, as the 
winds drive the waters from the Delaware over much 
marshy land there. For 200 acres he offers jClOO. 
He says it cannot be surveyed on the marsh (since all 
converted into productive meadows, (fe-c.) until the win- 
ter is so advanced as to make the survey on the ice ! 



OF OLDEN TIME. 59 

He speaks, even then, of its losing 100 loads of timber 
cut off, because it was untenanted, and borne off in 
moonlight nights — probably for ship timber use, and for 
staves. 

It appears by the minutes of council, 1726, that 
'* the inhabitants then of Frankford," petition that the 
road may be so altered^ as to have but one bridge in 
use, instead of the two then existing. 

In the year ]814,C. Kuhn, in digging near the water- 
side, for a foundation for a small store, on the tan-yard 
premises, now of Kinsay &. Hilles, discovered an in- 
terred earthen pot of silver coin, of about 100 pieces, 
of very old dates. Several were divided coins, cut into 
sections of dollars and quarters. Some dates were as 
old as 300 years. One was an old Massachusetts coin 
of 1652. He sold them all for old silver. 



SETTLEMENT OF GWYNEDD. 

This township, originally settled by the Welsh, was 
taken up in 1698 ; the original purchasers being Wil- 
liam, John, and Thomas Evans, who distributed por- 
tions among their associates, — to wit : William, John, 
Thomas, Robert, Owen, and Cadwallader Evans ; Hugh 
Griffiths, Edward Foulke, Robert Jones, John Hughes, 
and John Humphrey. Only the two last named were 
Friends ; all the others were churchmen. These latter 
were accustomed to meet at Robert Evans's ; and 
there Cadwallader Evans was in the practice to read 
from the Bible to the people assembled. But one 
time, as Cadwallader Evans was accustomed to relate 
to the late venerable Jesse Foulke, he was going as 
usual to his brother Robert's, when passing near ' 



60 HISTORIC TALES 

road leading to Friends meeting, held at John Hughe's 
and John Humphrey's, it seemed as if he was impressed 
*' to go down and see how the Quakers did." This he 
mentioned to his friend at the close of his own meeting, 
and they all agreed to go to the Friends meeting the 
next time, — where they were all so well satisfied that 
they never met again in their own worship. In 1700, 
the Friends built their log meeting house, on the site 
where now stands their present stone house, built in 
1823. An intermediate stone house was built there in 
1712. 

Mrs. S. Nancarro, the kinswoman of the above 
mentioned Jesse Foulke, who lived to be 80 years of 
age, used to tell the story a little variant, saying that 
the brothers Evans used to read the public services 
of their church, in a summer house, constructed of 
boughs of trees; and that when one of the biotherswas 
proceeding to his meeting, having to pass by where 
William Penn was speaking, he became so convinced, 
that he succeeded in bringing over all his brethren to 
the same profession. 

The same Mrs. N. had often seen and conversed with 
her grandfather, Hugh Evans, who lived to be ninety 
years of age. When he was a boy of twelve years of 
age, he remembered that William Penn, with his daugh- 
ter LaBtilia and a servant, (in the year 1699 or 1700,) 
came out on horseback to visit his father, Thomas 
Evans. Their house was then superior, in that it was 
of barked and hewn logs, a refinement surpassing the 
common rank. At that house, William Penn ascended 
steps on the outside to go to his bed-chamber ; and the 
lad of twelve, curious to see so distinguished a guest, 



OF OLDEN TIME. 61 

went up afterwards to peep through the apertures, and 
saw him on his knees at prayer, giving audible " thanks 
to God for such a peaceful and excellent shelter in the 
wilderness !" The same facts I heard also from another 
ancient person. 

The same Hugh Evans told, that Laetitia, then a 
lively young girl, was very desirous to go to an Indian 
festival which was near ; but her father would not give 
his consent, though she entreated him much : she then 
went out as if chagrined, and seeming to wish for some 
novelty to dissipate her grief, she took up a flail near 
some grain, at which she began to labour playfully, — 
when she inadvertently brought the unwieldy instru- 
ment so severely about her head and shoulders, as to have 
induced quite a new concern upon her mind, and caused 
her quickly to retreat into the house. The impression 
this fact made upon H. Evans, was never lost, and was 
often told. 



SETTLEMENT OF CHESTER. 

This ancient town was several years in being be- 
fore the arrival of Penn's colonists. It was the proper 
county town of what had been usually called Upland 
county by the Swedes and Dutch, and as such, it was 
itself usually called Upland also. The original name 
of the place, by the Indians, was Mocoponacka. 

Some of the Friends who had designed for a settle- 
ment in Jersey, had preferred this little village as their 
residence as early as 1677, — wherefore, when Penn's 
first colonists arrived by the ship Factor, in the winter, 
in December 1681, they were there met and welcomed 
6 



62 

HISTOBIC TALES 



by those Friends. Robert Wade was the chief person 
among them ; and his house, called " the Essex house " 
was often ™ade the head quarters of the emigrants it 
was at ,h,s hospitable mansion, that W.llfam Pen 
when he arnved, made kis landing and his home 
The house ,s no more ,• but facts sufficient still exist, to 
make the scene of the landing, the theme of an hist;ri- 
cal pamung The house stood on the lower side of 
Chester creek, not far from the river side ; was a large one 
and a half story wooden building, with a piazza. Near" 

ra'nle'nf'r;, ', "°°'' '''""' '""^ P'"«^' "<1 '^ '""g 

ide'of hi ' T *""• '^""^'^ P^^-'-^ - 'hat 
aide of the creek, extended some distance inland as a 

arge (arm The upper side of the creek, where now 
stands the town of Chester, was originally the land of 
James Sanderland, a Swede, whose remains are noticed 
on a stone inscription of fine character, in the present 
ancent St. Paul's church in that town. It represents 
b.m as dymg in the year 1692 in the 56th year of his 
age. 

The brick house is still standing, now a cooper's 
shop, owned by John Hart, in which it is said, was 
held the first Assembly of Pennsylvania ! It is a one 
and a half story structure of middle size, close by the 
creek. The oaken chair, in which William Penn there 
sat as chief of that assembly, is said to be still preserved 
in the possession of the aged and respectable widow of 
Colonel Frazier,— a chair to be prized by us, with a 
regard as venerative as that felt by Englishmen for 
their celebrated chair in Westminster Abbey, brought 
from Scone to help in the investiture of royal power. 
At the mill-seal up the Chester creek, now belonging 



OF OLDEN TIME. 63 

to Richard Flowers, was originally located, near thereto, 
the first mill in the county ; the same noticed in 
Proud's history as erected by Richard Townsend. The 
original mill is all gone ; but the log platform under 
water still remains. The iron vane of that mill, curi- 
ously wrought in cut letters, is still on the premises, 
containing the letters '« W P. S C. C P. 1699."— 
which express the original partners, William Penn, 
Samuel Carpenter and Caleb Pusey. 

Close by the race, stands the original dwelling house 
in which it is understood that Richard Townsend once 
dwelt, and where he was often visited by his partners ; 
it is a lowly stone building of rude finish inside. There 
let the visiter enter, and having seated himself, as I 
have done, let him try to consider that within those, 
humble walls was often seated the Great Founder of 
Pennsylvania ! 

Not far from this place, at the mills at Ridley creek, 
is a curious relic, an engraving upon a rock of " I. S. 
1682." which marks the spot where the first settler, 
John Sharpless, then affixed his temporary hut. His 
descendants since enjoy the same site and neighbour- 
hood in afl[luence. 

The original expectations of Chester were once 
much greater than since : they once thought it would 
grow into a shipping port. They had large trade with 
the rich lands of Lancaster county, and had some cele- 
brity for their granary, and a great bakery establish- 
ment for the use of vessels. In an original petition of 
the inhabitants of Chester of the year 1700, in my pos- 
session, they pray, that — '< Whereas Chester is daily 
improving, and in time may be a good place, that the 



64 HISTORIC TALES 

queen's road may be laid out as direct as possible, from 
Darby to the bridge on Chester creek." This paper 
was signed by ninety inhabitants, all writing good 
hands. 

There was many years ago considerable indications 
and promise of a valuable copper mine up the Chester 
creek. There are still visible remains of the two 
shafts, now filled with water. They were said to con- 
tain about 60 pounds of copper, and about 50 ounces of 
silver in the 100 pounds. At some future day, they 
will probably be re-worked with more success and 
profit. 

At this late day, it is grateful to look back with 
"recollected tenderness" on the state of society once 
possessing Chester. Most of the old inhabitants, being 
descendants of the English, spoke, as colonists, with the 
broad dialect of the north. They were a simple hearted, 
affectionate people. Little distinction of rank was 
known among them ; but all were honest and kind, and 
all entitled to, and received, the friendly attentions and 
kindness of their neighbours in cases of sickness and 
distress. Scandal and detraction, sometimes village 
pests, were to them unknown. Their era was a " Silver 
Age." 



FRONTIER TOWNS. 

Lancaster, Reading, &;c. 

These now conspicuous and large inland towns, 
were long regarded in the early days of the province, 



OF OLDEN TIME. 66 

as far remote in the Indian ranges and hunting grounds. 
The first inhabitants, who made " clearings and settle- 
ments" in those regions, were generally tolerated squat- 
ters, Hving rent free, for the purpose of forming a 
cordon, or defensive barrier, against any Indian sur- 
prise. 

The earliest settlement in Lancaster, as a town, was 
induced by the expected advantages of the iron works 
near by. The first establishment of them commenced 
in 1726, under the enterprise of Mr. Kurtz. In 1728, 
the family of the Grubbs, as iron-masters, began their 
career; but the most extensive and successful of all, 
was the late Robert Coleman, who amassed a great 
fortune thereby. 

Where Lancaster now stands, was once an Indian 
wigwam town ; a hickory tree stood in its centre, not 
far from a spring ; under this tree the councils met ; 
and from one of these councils a deputation was once 
sent to confer with William Penn at Shackamaxon. The 
Indian nation was called Hickory, as well as their town. 
When the whites began to build there, they still called 
it by the same name ; and Gibson, at his inn, about the 
year 1722, had a hickory tree painted upon his sign. 
It was situated near where Slaymaker's hotel is now 
built, and the spring was nearly opposite. The town 
under the name of Lancaster, was not laid out until 
1730 ; and the courts were not taken to it from Postle- 
waite, until the year 1734. 

An Indian town once stood on a flat of land north- 
east of Hardwiche, the seat of William Coleman, Esq. 
A poplar tree was the emblem of the tribe, from whence 
their name was derived. Its location, and that of the 
6* 



C6 HISTORIC TALES 

town, was near the bank of the Conestoga. The Con- 
estoga Indians were once numerous and influential. 
As early as 1701, we read of an embassy from Phila- 
delphia " round about through the woods," to " the 
palace of the king," " where they were cordially re- 
ceived and well entertained at a considerable town." In 
the year 1721, Sir W. Keith and his council and thirty 
gentlemen went to Conestoga, to hold there a treaty 
with the heads of the Five Nations. An original deed 
from Wiggoneeheenah, of 1725, to Edmund Cartlidge, 
grants '' in behalf of the Delaware Indians concerned," 
the tract of land formerly his plantation, " laying in a 
turn of Conestoga creek, called Indian Point." Those 
Indians, under the general name of Conestogoes, con- 
tinued to dwell along the Conestoga creek, until the 
year 1764, when fourteen of their number having been 
maliciously killed by the Irish settlers, the rest took 
shelter in Lancaster, and for their better security were 
placed under the bolts and bars of the prison ; where, 
however, they were afterwards assailed and massacred 
— men, women, and children- — at mid-day, by an armed 
band of lawless ruflians, calling themselves the " Pax- 
tang boys !" The Roman Catholics, under the Jesuits, 
were the first who opened religious worship among the 
people. 

In the year 1754, Lancaster had so much increased 
as to have then contained 500 houses and 2000 inha- 
bitants. A great proportion of them, then, were of 
German origin. The best lands of Lancaster county, 
and deemed, in general, the finest farms in the state, 
are those possessed by the German families. 

Reading is of much later origin, and had, when it 



OF OLDEN TIME. 67 

began, a very rapid progress — having, for instance, but 
one house there in 1749, and in 1752 it contained 130 
dwelhngs! It was raised into alluring repute by the 
agents of the Penn family, calling for settlers in it, as 
" a new town of great natural advantages of location, 
and destined to be a prosperous place." 

Bethlehem and Easton formed the frontier towns on 
the north. The former was begun in 1743, under 
Count Zinzendorf, by forming there his Moravian town. 
As late as the year 1755, the inhabitants of the neigh- 
bouring country were driven in from their farms to the 
towns of Bethlehem and Easton, filled with panic and 
dread from marauding Indians! It was not until the 
year 1761 that the present Allentown, then a fort, had 
its garrison dismissed. As late as the year 1755, the 
year of Braddock's defeat and alarm, there was a block 
house at Harris's ferry, the present Harrisburg, and 
hostile Indians prowled about Shearman's valley, not 
far off, committing sundry depredations. Since the war 
of the revolution, such is the march of improvement, 
that Harrisburg is made the seat of government, other 
towns are erected in every direction, and distant places 
are made nigh to us in effect, by numerous turnpikes, 
rail roads, and canals ! 

It strongly marks the rapid progress of inland im- 
provement, to say, that several members of c. family of 
the name of Gilbert are now living, who dwelt near tne 
Lehigh, on this side of the present celebrated Mauch 
Chunk coal mines, who were captured in open day by 
a band of hostile Indians, in the year 1778, and borne 
off unmolested to the Niagara frontier. One of the 
females so captured, I have seen and conversed with 



68 HISTORIC TALES 

only a few months before the present writing. She is 
a Friend, dwelling in Byberry. They then travelled 
through a wilderness country, unperceived by any white 
inhabitants, 500 miles in 26 days. Now splendid stage- 
coaches roll over graded turnpikes, and pass through 
numerous prosperous towns and villages, through all 
the intermediate space ! 

A MS. journal, which I have seen, of C. F. Post's, an 
Indian interpreter and agent, who died at Germantown 
in 1785, and who made an excursion from that place, 
in 1758, to the Susquehannah river with sundry Indians, 
shows incidentally how very wild and Indian-like the 
intermediate country must then have been. His first 
stage of one day from Bethlehem was to Hays' ; the 
next day to Fort Allen, where he met [ndians from 
Wyoming; thence he went to Fort Augusta, on the 
Susquehannah, where he met sundry Indians from Die- 
hogo^ now called Tioga, at the head of the same river, 
and saw also some Indians from Shamokin. Coursing 
along the river, he came to WeJceeponall, and at night 
rested at Queenashawakee. The next day they crossed 
the river at the Big Island — the same now so celebrated 
for its expensive canal works — called Duncan's Island, 
a little ^bove Harrisburg. In the region on the oppo- 
site '. estward, they came to several places where 
they . ^ wo poles, painted red, set up as pillars, to 
which the Indians tied their prisoners for the night. 
Now how different are all those regions, brought about 
in a term of fifty years ! Persons were lately alive in 
Tulpehocken, near Womelsdorf, who saw in that country 
the dreadful Indian massacre in 1755. I saw myself 
some that had been captured then. 




\ 



f^m^ 





OF OLDEN TIME. 69 



THE LANDING OF PENN AT THE BLUE ANCHOR 
TAVERN. 

Here memory's spell wakes up the throng 
Of past affection — here our fathers trod ! 

The general voice of mankind has ever favoured the 
consecration of places hallowed by the presence of per- 
sonages originating great epochs in history, or by events 
giving renown to nations. The landing place of Co- 
lumbus in our western world is consecrated and honour- 
ed in Havana ; and the landing of the pilgrims at Ply- 
mouth is commemorated by festivals. We should not 
be less disposed to emblazon with its just renown the 
place where Penn, our honoured founder, first set his 
foot on the soil of our beloved city. The site and all 
its environs were abundantly picturesque, and facts 
enough of the primitive scene have descended to us, 

-e'en to replace agen 



The features as they knew them then." 

Facts still live, to revive numerous local impressions, 
and to connect the heart and the imagination with the 
past, — to lead out the mind in vivid conceptions of 

m 

" How the place look'd when 'twas fresh and young." 

Penn and his immediate friends came up in an open 
boat or barge from Chester ; and because of the then 
peculiar fitness, as " a landing place," of the " low and 
sandy beach," at the dehouclie of the once beautiful and 
rural Dock creek, they there came to the shore by the 



70 HISTORIC TALES 

side of Guest's new house, then in a state of building, 
the same known in the primitive annals as " the Blue 
Anchor tavern." 

The whole scene was active, animating and cheering. 
On the shore were gathered, to cheer his arrival, most 
of the few inhabitants who had preceded him. The 
busy builders who had been occupied at the construc- 
tion of Guest's house, and at the connecting line of 
'* Budd's long row," all forsook their labours to join in 
the general greetings. The Indians too, aware by pre- 
vious signals of his approach, were seen in the throng, 
or some, more reservedly apart, waited the salutation of 
the guest, while others, hastening to the scene, could 
be seen paddling their canoes down the smooth waters 
of the creek. 

** Where the houses were erecting, on the line of Front 
street, was the low sandy beach ; directly south of it, on 
the opposite side of the creek, was the grassy and wet 
soil, fruitful in whortleberries ; beyond it was the '' So- 
ciety Hill," having its summit on Pine Street, and rising 
in graceful grandeur from the precincts of Spruce 
street, — all then robed in the vesture with which nature 
most charms. Turning our eyes and looking north- 
ward, we see similar rising ground, presenting its sum- 
mit above Walnut street. Looking across the Dock 
creek westward, we see all the margin of the creek 
adorned with every grace of shrubbery and foliage, and 
beyond it, a gently sloping descent from the line of 
Second street, whereon were hutted a few of the na- 
tive wigwams intermixed among the shadowy trees. A 
bower near there, and a line of deeper verdure on the 
ground, marked '* the spring," where " the Naiad weeps 



OF OLDEN TIME. 71 

her emptying urn." Up the stream meandering through 
'f prolixity of shade," where " willows dipt their pendent 
boughs, stooping as if to drink," we perceive, where it 
traverses Second street, the lowly shelter of Drinker, 
the anterior lord of Dock creek ; and beyond him, the 
creek disappears in intervening trees, or in mysterious 
windings. 

Penn was so pleased with the site of" the low sandy 
beach," as a landing place, (the rest of the river side be- 
ing high precipitous banks) that he made it a public land- 
ing place for ever in his original city charter ; and the 
little haven at the creek's mouth so pleased him, as a fit 
place for a harbour for vessels in the winter, and a se- 
curity from the driving ice, that he also appropriated so 
much of it as lay eastward of the Little Dock creek to 
be a great dock for ever, to be deepened by digging 
when needful. The waters there were much deeper at 
first than after years, as the place got filled up by the 
neghgence of the citizens. Charles Thomson, Esq. 
told me of his often seeing such vessels as sloops and 
schooners lading their flour for the West Indies on the 
sides of the Dock creek near to Second street ; and a 
very aged informant (Mrs. Powell) had seen a schooner 
once as high as Girard's bank. Charles Thomson also 
told me of one family of the first settlers whose vessel 
wintered at the mouth of the creek. 

This original tavern, from its location, was at first of 
first rate consequence as a place of business. It was 
the proper key of the city, to which all new-comers re- 
sorted, and where all small vessels, coming with build- 
ing timber from Jersey, &c., or with traffic from New 
England, made their ready landing. The house was 



72 HISTOEIC TALES 

also used as a public ferry, whence people were to cross 
over Dock creek to Society Hill, before the causeway 
and bridge over Front street were formed, and also to 
convey persons over to Windmill island, where was a 
windmill for grinding their grain, or to cross persons 
and horses over to Jersey. It was, in short, the busy 
mart for a few years of almost all the business the little 
town required. 

" The spring," in a line due west from this house, 
on the opposite bank of the creek, was long after a 
great resort for taking in water for vessels going to sea, 
and had been seen in actual use by some aged persons 
still alive in my time, who described it as a place of 
great rural beauty, shaded with shrubbery and surround- 
ed with rude sylvan seats. 

Little Dock creek, diverging to the southeast, had an 
open passage for canoes and batteaux as high as St. 
Peter's church, through a region long laying in com- 
mons, natural shrubbery, and occasional forest trees, 
left so standing, long after the city, northward of Dock 
creek, was in a state of improvement. 

The cottage of the Drinker family, seen up the main 
or northwestern Dock creek, located near the south- 
west corner of Walnut and Second street, was the real 
primitive house of Philadelphia. The father of the 
celebrated aged Edward Drinker had settled there some 
years before Penn's colonists came, and Edward him- 
self was born there two years before that time ; he lived 
till after the war of Independence, and used to delight 
himself often in referring to localities where Swedes and 
Indians occasionally hutted, and also where Penn and 
his friends remained at their first landing. 



OF OLDEN TIME. 73 

THE TREATY TREE, AND FAIRMAN'S MANSION. . 

[illustrated by a plate.] 



♦' But thou, broad Elm ! Canst thou tell us nought 
Of forest chieftains, and their vanish'd tribes ?^ 

Hast thou no record left 

Of perish'd generations, o'er whose head 

Thy foliage droop'd ? — thou who shadowed once 

The rever'd Founders of our honour'd State." 

The site of this venerable tree is filled with local im- 
pressions. The tree itself, of great magnitude and great 
age, was of most impressive grandeur. Other cities of 
our Union have had their consecrated trees ; and his- 
tory abounds with those'which spread in arborescent 
glory, and claimed their renown both from the pencil 
and the historic muse. Such have been " the royal 
oak," Shakspeare's " mulberry tree," <:fec. 

" From his touch-wood trunk the mulberry tree 
Supplied such relics, as devotion holds 
Still sacred, and preserves with pious care." 

In their state of lofty and silent grandeur they impress 
a soothing influence on the soul, and lead out the medi- 
tative mind to enlargement of conception and thought. 
On such a spot, Penn, with appropriate acumen, se- 
lected his treaty ground. There long stoad the stately 
witness of the solemn covenant — a lasting emblem of 
the unbroken faith, "pledged without an oath, and 
never broken !" 

7 



74 HISTORIC TALES 

Nothing could surpass the amenity of the whole 
scene as it once stood, before " improvement," that 
effacive name of every thing rural or picturesque, de- 
stroyed its former charms, cut down its sloping verdant 
bank, razed the tasteful Fairman mansion, and turned 
all into the levelled uniformity of a city street. Once 
remote from city bustle, and blest in its own silent 
shades amid many lofty trees, it looked out upon the 
distant city, " saw the stir of the great Babel, nor felt 
the crowd ;" long therefore it was the favourite walk of 
the citizen. There he sought his seat and rest. Be- 
neath the wide spread branches of the impending Elm, 
gathered in summer whole congregations to hymn their 
anthems and to hearken to the preacher, beseeching 
them " in Christ's stead to be reconciled unto God." 
Those days are gone, " but sweet 's their memory 
still 1" 

Not to further dilate on the picture which the imagi- 
nation fondly draws of scenes no longer there, we shall 
proceed to state such facts as the former history of the 
place affords, to wit : 

The fact of the treaty being held under the Elm, de- 
pends more upon the general tenor of tradition, than 
upon any direct facts now in our possession. When all 
men knew it to be so, they felt little occasion to lay up 
evidences for posterity. Lest any should hereafter 
doubt it, the following corroborative facts are furnished, 
to wit : 

Proud says, "the proprietary being now returned 
from Maryland to Coaquannock, the place so called 
by the Indians, where Philadelphia now stands, began 
to purchase lands of the natives. It was at this time 



OF OLDEN TIME. 75 

if 

(says he,) when William Penn first entered personally 
into that lasting friendship with the Indians, (meaning 
the treaty, it is presumed,) which ever after continued 
between them." 

Clarkson, who had access to all the Penn papers in 
England, and who had possession of the blue sash of 
silk with which Penn was girt at the aforesaid famous 
treaty, gives the following facts, strongly coincident 
with the fact of the locality of the treaty tree, — saying, 
'* It appears (meaning, I presume, it was in evidence, 
as he was too remote to be led to the inference by our 
traditions,) that though the parties were to assemble at 
Coaquannock, the treaty was made a little higher up at 
Shackamaxon." We can readily assign a good reason 
for the change of place ; the latter had a kind of village 
near there of Friends, and it had been besides the resi- 
dence of Indians, and probably had some remains of 
their families still there. 

Sir Benjamin West, who lived here sufficiently early 
to have beard the direct traditions in favour of the 
treaty, has left us his deep sense of that historical fact 
by giving it the best efforts of his pencil, and has therein 
drawn the portrait of his grandfather as one of the group 
of Friends attendant on Penn in that early national act. 
His picture, indeed, has given no appearance of that 
tree, but this is of no weight ; as painters, like poets, are 
indulged to make their own drapery and effect. Nothing 
can be said against the absence of the tree, which may 
not be equally urged against the character and position 
of the range of houses in his back ground, which were 
certainly never exactly found either at Shackamaxon, 
Coaquannock, or Upland. But we may rest assured 



76 HISTORIC TALES ^ 

that Sir Benjamin, although he did not use the image 
of the treaty tree as any part of his picture,* he never- 
theless regarded it as the true locality ; because he has 
left a fact from his own pen to countenance it. This he 
did in relating what he learnt from Colonel Simcoe re- 
specting his protection of that tree, during the time of 
the stay of the British army at and near Philadelphia. 
It shows so much generous and good feeling from all the 
parties concerned, that Sir Benjamin's words may be 
worthy of preservation in this connexion, to wit : " This 
tree which was held in the highest veneration by the 
original inhabitants of my native country, by the first 
settlers, and by their descendants, and to which I well 
remember, about the year 1756, when a boy, often re- 
sorting with my school-fellows, was in some danger 
during the American war, when the British possessed 
the country, from parties sent out in search of wood 
for firing ; but the late General Simcoe, who had the 
command of the district where it grew, (from a regard 
for the character of William Penn, and the interest he 
took in the history connected with the tree,) ordered a 
guard of British soldiers to protect it from the axe. This 
circumstance the general related to me, in answer to 
my inquiries, after his return to England." If we con- 
sider the lively interest thus manifested by Sir Benjamin 
in the tree, connected with the facts that he could have 
known from his grandfather, who was present and must 
have left a correct tradition in the family, (thus inducing 
Sir Benjamin to become the painter of the subject,) we 

* Possibly because he could have no picture of it in England, 
where he painted. 



OF OLDEN TIME. 



77 



cannot but be convinced how amply he corroborates 
the locality above 'stated. 

We have been thus particular, because the archives 
at Harrisburg, which have been searched, in illustration 
and confirmation of the said treaty, have hitherto been 
to little effect ; one paper found barely mentions that 
*< after the treaty was held, William Penn and the 
Friends went into the house of Lacey Cock."* And 
Mr. Gordon, the author of the late History of Pennsyl- 
vania, informed me that he could only find at Harris- 
burg the original envelope relating to the treaty papers ; 
on which was endorsed '' Papers relative to the Indian 
treaty under the great Elm." 

In regard to the form and manner of the treaty as 
held, we think William Penn has given us ideas, in ad- 
dition to West's painting, which we think must one day 
provide material for a new painting of this interesting 
national subject. Penn's letters of 1683, to the Free 
Society of traders, and to the Earl of Sunderland, both 
describe an Indian treaty to this effect, to wit : To the 
Society he says, " I have had occasion to be in council 
with them upon treaties for land, and to adjust the 
terms of trade. Their order is thus, the king sits in 
the middle of an half moon and hath his council, the 
old and wise on each hand. Behind them or at a little 
distance sit the younger fry in the same figure. Having 
consulted and resolved their business, the king ordered 
one of them to speak to me ; he stood up, came to me, 

* There is a deed from Governor Henoyon of New York, of 
the year 1664, granting unto Peter Cock his tract, then called 
Shackamaxon. 

7* 



78 HISTORIC TALES 

and in the name of his king saluted me ; then took me 
by the hand, and told me " he was ordered by his king 
to speak to me, and that what he should say was the 
king's mind," &c. While he spoke, not a man of them 
was observed to whisper or smile. When the purchase 
was made, great promises passed between us of kindness 
and good neighbourhood, and that we must live in love 
so long as the sun gave light. This done, another made 
a speech to the Indians in the name of all the Sacha- 
machers or kings, — first, to tell what was done ; next, to 
charge and command them to love the Christians, and 
particularly to live in peace with me and my people. 
At every sentence they shouted, and, in their way, said, 
amen." 

To the Earl of Sunderland, Penn says : " In selling 
me their land they thus ordered themselves ; the old in 
a half moon upon the ground ; the middle-aged in a like 
figure at a little distance behind them ; and the young 
fry in the same manner behind them. None speak but 
the aged, — they having consulted the rest before hand." 

We have thus, it may be perceived, a graphic picture 
of Penn's treaty, as painted by himself; and, to my 
mind, the sloping green bank presented a ready amphi- 
theatre for the display of the successive semi-circles of 
Indians. 

Fishbourne's MS. Narrative of 1739, says Penn es- 
tablished a friendly correspondence by way of treaty 
with the Indians at least twice a year. 

The only mark of distinction used by Penn at the 
treaty, was that of a blue silk net-work sash, girt around 
his waist. This sash is still in existence in England ; 
it was once in possession of Thomas Clarkson, Esq. 



OP OLDEN TIME. 79 

who bestowed it to his friend as a valuable relic. John 
Cook, Esq. our townsman, was told this by Clarkson 
himself in the year 1801: — such a relic should be 
owned by the Penn Society. 

The tree thus memorable was blown over on the 3d 
of March, 1810; the blow was not deemed generally 
prevaleat, nor strong. In its case, the root was 
wrenched and the trunk broken off; it fell on Saturday 
night, and on Sunday many hundreds of people visited 
it. In its form it was remarkably wide spread, but not 
lofty ; its main branch inclining towards the river mea- 
sured 160 feet in length ; its girth around the trunk was 
24 feet, and its age as it was counted by the inspection 
of its circles of annual growth, was 283 years. The 
tree, such as it was in 1800, was very accurately drawn 
on the spot by Thomas Birch, and the large engraving, 
executed from it by Seymour, gives the true appearance 
of every visible limb, &;c. While it stood, the Metho- 
dists and Baptists often held their summer meetings 
under its shade. When it had fallen, several took their 
measures to secure some of the wood as relics. An 
arm-chair was made from it, and presented to Doctor 
Rush ; a part of it is constructed into something memo- 
rable and enduring at Penn's park in England. I have 
some remains of it rtiyself. 

But the fallen tree is finely revived, and a sucker from 
it is now flourishing in the amplitude of an actual tree 
on the premises of the City Hospital, in the centre of 
the western vacant lot. Messrs. Coates and Brown, 
managers, placed it there some 15 or 16 years ago. I 
had myself seen another sucker growing on the original 
spot, some two or three years ago, amid the lumber of 



80 



HISTORIC TALES 



the ship yard. It was then about 15 feet high, and 
might have been still larger but for neglect and abuse. 
I was aiding to have it boxed-in for protection ; but, 
whether from previous barking of the trunk, or from 
injuring the roots by settling the box, it did not long 
survive the intended kindness. Had it lived, it would 
have been an appropriate shade to the marble monu- 
ment, since erected near the site of the original tree to 
perpetuate its memory, with the following four inscrip- 



Treaty ground 

of 
William Penn, 

and the 
Indian Nations, 

1682, 
Unbroken faith. 



William Penn, 
born 1644, 
died 1718. 



Placed by the 

Penn Society, 

A. D. 1827, 

to mark the 

Bite of the 

Great Elm tree. 



Pennsylvania, 

founded 

1681, 

by deeds of 

peace. 



As it is possible, with nourishing earth and due wa- 
tering, to raise small cuttings from the present tree, I 
recommend that a successor may yet be placed over the 
monument. 

We come now next in order to speak of the 

FAIRMAN MANSION. 

This respectable and venerable looking brick edifice 
was constructed in 1702 for the use of Thomas Fair- 
man, the deputy of Thomas Holme, the Surveyor Gene- 
ral, and was taken down in April, 1825, chiefly because 
it encroached on the range of the present street. A 
brick was found in the wall, on which was marked 
"Thomas Fairman, September, 1702." 

It had been the abode of many respectable inmates, 
and was once desired as the country-seat of William 



OF OLDEN TIME. 81 

Penn himself, — a place highly appropriate for him who 
made his treaty there. Governor Evans, after leaving 
his office as governor, dwelt there some time. It was 
afterwards the residence of Governor Palmer ; and 
these two names were sufficient to give it the character 
of the " Governor's house," — a name which it long re- 
tained after the cause had been forgotten. After them 
the aged and respectable Mr. Thomas Hopkins occupied 
it for fifty years. 

Penn's conception of this beautiful place is well ex- 
pressed in his letter of 1708 to James Logan, saying, 
"If John Evans (the late governor) leaves your place, 
then try to secure his plantation ; for I think, from above 
Shackamaxon to the town, is one of the pleasantest 
situations upon the river for a governor ; where one 
sees and hears what one will and when one will, and 
yet have a good deal of the sweetness and quiet of the 
country. And I do assure thee, if the country would 
settle upon me six hundred pounds per annum, I would 
hasten over the following summer.* Cultivate this 
amongst the best Friends." The next year, (1709) his 
mind being intent on the same thing, he says : " Pray 
get Daniel Pegg's, or such a remote place, (then on 
Front near to Green street) in good order for me and 
family." 

* We may here see how absolutely determined, and pledged 
too, Penn once was to return and settle his family for ever among 
us, by his request in next year to engage Pegg's house. I pre- 
sume, Evans's house could not then be had, and that he was ac 
tually encouraged to come over at the ,£600. a year ; but after- 
circumstances in England prevented his return here. 



82 HISTORIC TALES 

THE SWEDES' CHURCH, AND HOUSE OF SVEN SENER. 

[illustrated by a plate.] 



" The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep !" 

The Swedes of the hamlet at Wiccaco, at the present 
Swedes' church in Southvvark, having been the primi- 
tive occupants, near the present site of Philadelphia, 
(before the location of our city was determined,) will 
make it interesting to glean such facts as we can con- 
cerning that place and people. There they once saw 
the region of our present city scenes — 



-one still 



And solemn desert in primeval g^arb !" 

Mr. Kalm, the Swedish traveller, v/hen here in 1748, 
saw Nils Gu&tafson, an old Swede then 91 years of age, 
who told him he well remembered to have seen a great 
forest on the spot where Philadelphia now stands ; that 
he himself had brought a great deal of timber to Phila- 
delphia at the time it was built. Mr. Kalm also met 
with an old Indian, who had often killed stags on the 
spot where Philadelphia now stands ! 

It appears from manuscripts and records that the 
southern part of our city, including present Swedes' 
church, navy yard, &c, was originally possessed by 
the Swedish family of Sven, the chief of which was 
Sven Schute, — a title equivalent to the Commandant ; 
in which capacity he once held Nieu Amstel under 
charge from Risingh. As the Schute of Korsholm fort, 



OF OLDEN TIME. 83 

standing in the domain of Passaiung, he probably bad 
its site sorae where in the sub-district of Wiccaco, — an 
Indian name traditionally said to \vmp\y pleasant place ^* 
a name highly indicative of what Swedes' church place 
originally was. We take for granted that the village 
and church would, as a matter of course, get as near 
the block-house fort as circumstances would admit. 

The lands of the Sven family we however know from 
actual title, which I have seen to this effect, to wit : " I, 
Frances Lovelace, Esq. one of the gentlemen of his 
Majesty's Honourable Privy Council, and Governor 
General under his Royal Highness, James, Duke of 
York and Albany, to all whom these presents may come, 
&c. Whereas, there was a Patent or Ground Brief grant- 
ed by the Dutch Governor at Delaware to Swen Gonder- 
son, Swen Swenson,! Oele Swenson, and Andrew Swen- 
son, for a certain piece of ground lying up above in the 
river, beginning at Moyamensing kill, and so stretching 
upwards in breadth 400 rod, [about 1^ mile wide] and 
in length into the woods 600 rod, [nearly 2 miles] in all 
about 800 acres, dated 5th of May, 1664, KNOW YE, 
&c. that I have ratified the same, they paying an annual 
quit rent of eight bushels of winter wheat to his Ma- 
jesty." This patent was found recorded at Upland the 
31st of August, 1741. 

The Moyamensing kill above mentioned was probably 
the same creek now called Hay creek, above Gloucester 

* So old Mr. Marsh told me he had heard from the oldest set- 
tlers there. 

tThis Swen Swenson appears to have been in the first jury 
named at Chester, called by Governor Markham. 



84 HISTORIC TALES 

Point, and the 600 rods, or 2 miles of length, probably 
extended along the river. 

We know that Penn deemed their lines so far within 
the bounds of his plan of Philadelphia and Southwark, 
that he actually extinguished their title by giving them 
lands on the Schuylkill, above Lemon hill, &c. 

The Rev. Dr. Collin has ascertained from the Swedish 
MS. records in his possession, that the first Swedes' 
church at Wiccaco was built on the present site in 
1677, five years before Penn's colony came. It was 
of logs, and had loop-holes in lieu of window lights, 
which might serve for fire-arms in case of need. The 
congregation also was accustomed to bring fire-arms 
with them to prevent surprise, but ostensibly to use for 
any wild game which might present in their way in 
coming from various places. 

In 1700, the present brick church was erected, and 
it was then deemed a great edifice, and so generally 
spoken of; for certainly nothing was then equal to it, 
as a public building, in the city. The parsonage house, 
now standing, was built in 1737. The former parson- 
age house was in the Neck. There were originally 27 
acres of land attached to the Wiccaco church. These 
facts were told me by Dr. Collin. At my request he 
made several extracts from the Swedish church books 
to illustrate those early times ; which he has since be- 
stowed to the historical department of the Philosophical 
Society. 

The original log-house of the sons of Sven was stand- 
ing till the time the British occupied Philadelphia ; 
when it was taken down and converted into fuel. It 
stood on a knoll or hill on the N. W. corner of Swan- 



OF OLDEN TIME. 85 

son Street and Beck's alley. Professor Kalm visited it 
in 1748 as a curiosity, and his description of it then is 
striking, to wit : '' The wretched old wooden building 
(on a hill a httle north of the Swedes' church) be- 
longing to one of the sons of Sven, (Sven Saener,) is still 
preserved as a memorial of the once poor state of that 
place. Its antiquity gives it a kind of superiority over 
all the other buildings in the town, although in itself it 
is the worst of all. But with these advantages it is 
ready to fall down, and in a few years to come it will 
be as difficult to find the place where it stood,* as it 
was unlikely, when built, that it should in a short time 
become the place of one of the greatest towns in Ame- 
rica. Such as it was, it showed how they dwelt, when 
stags, elk, deer, and beavers ranged in broad day-light 
in the future streets and public places of Philadelphia. 
In that house was heard the sound of the spinning- 
wheel before the city was ever thought of!" He de- 
scribes the site as having on the river side in front of it 
a great number of very large sized water-beech or but- 
ton wood trees ; one of them, as a solitary way-mark to 
the spot, is still remaining there. He mentions also 
some great ones as standing on the river shore by the 
Swedes' chnrch — the whole then a rural scene. 

It was deemed so attractive, as a ''pleasant place," 
that Thomas Penn, when in Philadelphia, made it his 
favourite ramble ; so much so, that Secretary Peters, in 
writing to him in 1743, thus complains of its changes, 
saying, "Southwark is getting greatly disfigured by 

* I could tell an amusing tale to prove how difficult I found 
it was to meet with those who remembered it as the "Swedes' 
house." 

8 



86 



HISTORIC TALES 



erectincr irregular and mean houses; thereby so marring 
its beauty that when he shall return he will lose his 
usual pretty walk to Wiccaco." 

The Sven family, although once sole lords of the 
southern domain, have now dwindled away, and I know 
of no male member of that name, or rather of their 
anglified name of Swanson. The name was succes- 
sively altered. At the earliest time it was occasionally 
written Suan, which sometimes gave occasion to the 
sound of Swan ; and in their patent confirmed by Gov- 
ernor Lovelace, they are named Swen. By Professor 
Kalm, himself a Swede, and most competent to the 
true name, they are called Sven-Ssener, i. e. sons of 
Sven. Hence in time they were called sons of Suan or 
Swan, and afterwards, for euphony sake, Swanson. 

The extinction of these names of the primitive lords 
of the soil, reminds one of the equally lost names of the 
primitive lords at the other end of the city, to wit : the 
Hartsfelders and Peggs — all sunk in the abyss of time ! 
'•' By whom begotten or by whom forgot," equally is all 
their lot ! 

One street has preserved their Swanson name ; and 
the City Directory did once show the names of one or 
two in lowly circumstances ; if indeed their name was 
any proof of their connexion with Sven Schute. 

The present Anthony Cuthbert of Penn street, aged 
77, tells me he remembers an aged Mr. Swanson in his 
youth, who was a large landholder of property near this 
Sven house ; that he gave all his deeds or leases " with 
the privilege of using his wharf or landing, near the 
button woods." The single great tree still standing 
there, as a pointer to the spot, is nearly as thick at its 
base as the treaty Elm, and hke it diverges into two 



OF OLDEN TIME. 87 

great branches near the ground. Long may it remain 
the last relict of the home of Sven Saener ! 

They who see the region of Swedes' church now, 
can have little conception of the hills and undulations 
primarily there. The first story of the Swedes' church, 
now on Swanson street, made of stone, was originally 
so much under ground. The site there was on a small 
hill now cut down eight feet. At the east end of 
Christian street where it is crossed by Swanson street, 
the river Delaware used to flow in, so that Swanson 
street in that place, say from the north side of Swedes' 
church lot up to near Queen street, was originally a 
raised causeway. 

On the whole, there are signs of great changes in 
that neighbourhood, — of depressing hills or of fillinj^ 
vales ; which, if my conjectures be just, would have 
made the Swedes' church, in times of water invasions 
from high tides, a kind of peninsula, and itself and par- 
sonage on the extreme point of projection. 

The primitive Swedes generally located all their resi- 
dences " near the freshes of the river," always choosing 
places of a ready water communication, preferring thus 
their conveyances in canoes to the labour of opening 
roads and inland improvements. From this cause their 
churches, like this at Wiccaco, were visited from con- 
siderable distances along the river, and making, when 
assembled on Lord's day, quite a squadron of boats 
along the river side there. 

There are some facts existing, which seem to indicate 
that the first Swedish settlement was destroyed by fire. 
Mrs. Preston, the grandmother of Samuel Preston, an 
aged gentleman still alive, often told him of their being 
driven from thence, by being burnt out, and then going 



88 HISTORIC TALES 

off by invitation to an Indian settlement in Bucks 
county. In Campanius's work he speaks of Korsholm 
fort, (supposed to be the same place,) as being aban- 
doned after Governor Printz returned to Sweden, and 
afterwards burned by the Indians ; very probably as a 
measure of policy, to diminish the strength of their new 
masters, the Dutch. There seems at least some coin- 
cidence in the two stories. 

The road through Wiccaco to Gloucester Point was 
petitioned for, and granted by the Council in the year 
1720, and called — the road through the marsh. 



PENN^S COTTAGE, IN L.ETITIA COURT 
[illustrated by a plate.] 



It is a matter of inquiry and doubt at this day (1828), 
which has been the house in Lsetitia court, wherein 
William Penn, the founder, and Colonel Markham, the 
lieutenant governor, dwelt. The popular opinion now 
is, that the inn at the head of the court, occupied as the 
Leopard Inn, and since Penn Hall, is the identical 
house alluded to. The cause of this modern confidence 
is ascribable (even if there were no better ground of 
assurance) to the fact, that this building, since they built 
the additional end to the westward, of about 1 8 to 20 
feet, presents such an imposing front towards High 
street, and so entirely closes the court at that end, (for- 
merly open as a cart passage,) that from that cause 
alone, to those not well informed, it looks as the prin- 
cipal house, and may have therefore been regarded by 
transient passengers as Penn's house. 



OF OLDEN TIME. 89 

But persons of more weight in due knowledge of the 
subject, have told nie they had been always satisfied it 
was the old Rising Sun inn on the western side of the 
court. Timothy Matlack, aged 92, who was very inquisi- 
tive, and knew it from fourteen years of age, said it was 
then the chief house in that court as to character ; it 
was a very popular inn for many years ; (whereas 
Doyle's house was not an inn till many years after- 
wards ;) that it then had an alley on its northern side, 
for a cart way, running out to Second street, and thus 
agreeing with '* Penn's gate over against Friends' Meet- 
ing," &c. at which place his Council, 1685, required 
King James's proclamation to be read. 

If what is now Doyle's inn (Penn's Hall) had a south 
front, and a "dead wall" towards High street, it seems 
very difficult to conceive how its great gate could be 
vis a vis Friends' great meeting, on the southeast cor- 
ner of High and Second streets. But the Lastitia house, 
i. e. Old Rising Sun, would correspond ; besides, Penn, 
in his instructions to his commissioners, says, " Pitch 
my house in the middle of the towne, and facing the 
harbour," &,c. 

Timothy Matlack also told me, that he used to be told 
that on the southern side of that Rising Sun inn was 
Penn's stable, and that they used to say he could lay in 
his bed or on his settee and hear his horses in the next 
building munching their food. Colonel Anthony Mor- 
ris, aged 84, told me expressly, he always understood 
the same house was Penn's residence ; that it was so 
talked of, when a boy, and that it is only of later years 
that he ever heard a hint of the house at the head of the 
court as being the residence. Thomas Bradford, now 
8* 



90 HISTOKIC TALES 

80 years of age, who was born close by there, and has 
always dwelt there, has told me he always heard the 
Rising Sun inn, western side, was '' Laetitia's house," 
and that what is now Doyle's inn was never stated as 
Penn's till of modern times, and in its primitive state it 
presented a dead wall to High street, and had its only 
front upon Black-horse alley. 

I infer from all the facts, that Penn had " his cottage" 
built there before his landing, by Colonel Markham ;* 
that some of the finer work was imported for it with 
the first vessels ; that he used it as often as not at his 
<« palace" at Pennsbury. After him, it was used by 
Colonel Markham, his deputy governor ; and after- 
wards for public ofiices. That in 1700, when he used 
the " slate-house," corner of Second street and Norris' 
alley> having a mind to confer something upon his 
daughter, then with him, he gave her a deed, 1 mo. 
29th, 1701, for all that half square laying on High 
street, and including said house. Several years after 
this event, the people, as was their custom, v^hen the 
court began to be built up on each side of a " 36 feet 
alley," having no name for it, they, in reference to the 
last conspicuous owner, called it Laetitia court, in refer- 
ence to the then most conspicuous house ; the same 
house so given by Penn to his daughter. A letter, 
which I have, from William Penn, dated 1687,t says, 
*• Your improvements (in Philadelphia) now require 

* Gabriel Thomas, who said " he went out in the first ship," 
said he then saw "the first cellar digging for the use of our 
governor." 

t See the original in my MS. Annals in the Historical Society 
of Pennsylvania. 



OF OLDEN TIME. 91 

some conveniency above what my cottage has afforded 
you in times past." He means this " for the offices 
of state." In 1684-5, his letter to James Harrison, 
which I have seen and copied, allows "his cousin, 
Markham, to live in his house in Philadelphia, and that 
Thomas Lloyd, the deputy governor, should have the 
use of his periwigs, and any wines and beer he may 
have there left, for the use of strangers." 

It may possibly be deemed over fanciful in me to ex- 
press a wish to have this primitive house purchased by 
our Penn Association, and consecrated to future re- 
nown. I hope, indeed, the idea will yet generate 
in the breasts of some of my fellow members the real 
poetry of the subject. It is all intellectual ; and has 
had its warrant (if required) in numerous precedents 
abroad. We may now see written upon Melancthon's 
house in Wirtenburg, " Here lived and died Melanc- 
thonl" In the same city are still preserved "Luther's 
room," his chair, table, and stove ; and at Eisleben is 
seen a small house, bought and preserved by the King 
of Prussia, inscribed, " This is the house in which Lu- 
ther was born."* Petrarch's house is not suffered to 
be altered. Such things, in every country, every intel- 
ligent traveller seeks out with avidity. Why, therefore, 
should we not retain for public exhibition the primitive 
house of Penn ? Yea, whose foundation constituted 
*' the first cellar dug in Philadelphia !" To proper 

* This house, so kept to the memory of Luther, has its rooms 
hung with pictures, ancient and grotesque, and the rooms con- 
tain chairs, tables, and other relics of their former possessor. An 
Album is there, in which the visiter inscribes his name from 
Luther's inkstand. Vide Dwight's Travels. 



92 



HISTORIC TALES 



minds, the going into the alley and narrow court to find 
the hallowed spot (now so humble) should constitute its 
chiefest interest. It would be the actual contrast be- 
tween the beginning and the progress of our city. 

Its exterior walls I would preserve with inviolate 
faithfulness ; and within those walls (wherein space is 
ample, if partitions were removed) might be an appro- 
priate and highly characteristic place of meeting for 
the ordinary business of the Penn Association and the 
Historical Society, and also for the exhibition of such 
paintings and relics as could now be obtained,--such 
as Penn's clock, his escritoire, writing table, &c. besides 
several articles to be had of some families, of curiously 
constructed furniture of the primitive days. The hint 
is thus given — will any now support the idea ? 

If we would contemplate this Laetitia house in its first 
relations, we should consider it as having an open area 
to the river the whole width of the half square, with 
here and there retained an ornamental clump of forest 
trees and shrubbery on either side of an avenue leading 
out to the Front street ; having a garden and fruit trees 
on the Second street side, and on Second street " the 
Governor's gate," so called, '* opposite to the lot of the 
Friends' great meeting." By this gale the carriages 
entered and rode along the avenue, by the north side of 
the house, to the east front of the premises. This avenue 
remained an alley way long after, even to within the 
early memory of Timothy Matlack, who told me that 
he had seen it open as a common passage into Second 
street. The same was confirmed by Mr. Harris, a for- 
mer owner, to Mr. Heberton. Indeed, it is even now open 
and paved up to the rear of the house on Second street. 



OF OLDEN TIME. 93 

This general rural appearance was all in accordance 
with Penn's known taste, and was doubtless so con- 
tinued until the ground was apportioned out into thirty 
city lots, as expressed by James Logan in a letter to 
Lsetitia Aubrey, in the year 1737, saying, " There was 
about twenty-six shilhngs per annum reserved upon the 
large city lot, divided into thirty smaller parts — seven 
on the Front street, seven on Second street, and eight 
on the High street, — all of these at one shilling Penn- 
sylvania money per annum, and those in Lsetitia court 
at six pence each" for the remaining eight lots there. 

The plate given to illustrate the present subject 
shows the primitive house as it stood in earliest times, 
with an open front to the river, and with a coach pas- 
sage on its northern side extending to " the gate" on 
Second street, " over against the great meeting." 



SLATE-ROOF HOUSE— PENN'S RESIDENCE. 

[illustrated by a plate.] 



" Now thou standest 

In faded majesty, as if to mourn • 

^ The dissolution of an ancient race I" 

This house, still standing at the southeast corner of 
Norris's alley and Second street, and now reduced to a 
lowly appearance, derives its chief interest from having 
been the residence of William Penn. The peculiarity 
of its original construction, and the character of several 
of its successive inmates, will enhance its interest to 



94 HISTORIC TALES 

the modern reader. The facts concerning the pre- 
mises, so far as may now be known, are generally 
these, to wit : 

The house was originally built, in the early origin of 
the city, for Samuel Carpenter — certainly one of the 
earliest and greatest improvers of the primitive city.* 
It was probably designed for his own residence, al- 
though he had other houses on the same square, nearer 
to the river. 

It was occupied as the city residence of William 
Penn and family, while in Philadelphia on his second 
visit in 1700 ; in which house was born, one month 
after their arrival, John Penn, " the American," — the 
only one of the race ever born in the country. To that 
house therefore, humble, degenerated, and altered in 
aspect as it now is, we are to appropriate all our con- 
ceptions of Penn's employments, meditations, hopes, 
fears, &c. while acting as governor and proprietary 
among us. In those doors he went in and out — up and 
down those stairs he passed — in those chambers he 
reposed — in those parlours he dined or regaled his 
friends — through those garden grounds they sauntered. 
His wife, his daughter Laetitia, his family, and his ser- 
vants, were there. In short, to those who can think 
and feel, the place " is filled with local impressions." 
Such a house should b6 rescued from its present forlorn 
neglect ; it ought to be bought and consecrated to some 
lasting memorial of its former character, by restoring 
its bastions and salient angles, &c. It would be to the 
character of such societies as the Historical and Penn 

'f' His portrait I have seen in possession of Isaac C, Jones, 



OP OLDEN TIME. 95 

Association, &,c. to club their means to preserve it for 
their chambers, «Sz^c. as long as themselves and the city 
may endure ! There is a moral influence in these mea- 
sures that implies and effects much more in its influence 
on national action and feeling, than can reach the ap- 
prehension of superficial thinkers ; who can only esti- 
mate its value by their conception of so much brick 
and mortar ! It was feelings such as I wish to see ap- 
preciated here, that aroused the ardor of Petrarch's 
townsmen, jealous of every thing consecrated by his 
name, whereby they ran together en masse, to prevent 
the proprietor of his house from altering it ! Foreign- 
ers, we know, have honoured England by their eager- 
ness to go to Bread street, and there visit the house 
and chambers once Milton's ! 'Tis in vain to deride the 
passion as futile ; the charm is in the ideal presence 
which the association has power to create in the ima- 
gination ; and they who can command the grateful 
visions will be sure to indulge them. It is poetry of 
feeling — scoffs cannot repress it. It equally possessed 
the mind of Tully when he visited Athens ; he could 
not forbear to visit the walks and houses which the old 
philosophers had frequented or inhabited. In this mat- 
ter, says Dr. Johnson, ^' I am afraid to declare against 
the general voice of mankind." " The heart is stone 
tliat feels not at it ; or, it feels at none !" Sheer insen- 
sibility, absorbed in its own selfishness, alone escapes 
the spell-like influence I Every nation, when sufficiently 
intellectual, has its golden and heroic ages ; and the 
due contemplation of these relics of our antiquities, 
presents the proper occasion for forming ours. These 
thoughts, elicited by the occasion, form the proper 



96 HISTORIC TALES 

apology for whatever else we may offer to public notice 
in this way. There is a generation to come who will 
be grateful for all such notices. 

At this house, Lord Cornbury, then governor of New 
York and New Jersey, (son of Lord Clarendon, cousin 
of Queen Anne, &c.) was banqueted in great style in 
1702, on the occasion of his being invited by James 
Logan, from Burlington, where he had gone to pro- 
claim the queen. Logan's letter, speaking of the event, 
says he was dined '* equal, as he said, to any thing he 
had seen in America." At night he was invited to 
Edward Shippen's, (great house in South Second street) 
where he was lodged, and dined with all his company, 
making a retinue of nearly thirty persons. He went 
back well pleased with his reception, via Burlington, 
in the governor's barge, and was again banqueted at 
Pennsbury by James Logan, who had preceded him for 
that purpose. Lord Cornbury there had a retinue of 
about fifty persons, which accompanied him thither in 
four boats. His wife was once with him in Philadel- 
phia, in 1703. Penn, on one occasion, calls him a 
man of luxury and poverty. He was at first very popu- 
lar ; and having made many fine promises to Penn, it 
was probably deemed good policy to cheer his vanity 
by striking public entertainments. In time, however, 
his extravagant living, and consequent extortion, divest- 
ed him of all respect among the people. Only one 
legendary tale respecting this personage has reached 
us: An old woman at Chester had told the Parker 
family she remembered to have seen him at that place, 
and having heard he was a lord, and a queen's cousin, 
she had eyed him with great exactness, and had seen 



OF OLDEN TIME. 97 

?io difference in him, from other men, but that he wore 
leather stockings !* 

In 1709, "the slated-roof house of William Trent" 
is thus commended by James Logan, as a suitable resi- 
dence for Penn as governor, saying, " William Trent, 
designing for England, is about selling his house, (that 
he bought of Samuel Carpenter,) which thou lived in, 
with the improvement of a beautiful garden," — then 
extending half way to Front street and on Second street 
nearly down to Walnut street. *' I wish it could be 
made thine, as nothing in this town is so well fitting a 
governor. His price is £900 of our money, which it 
is hard thou canst not spare. I would give 20 to 30?. 
out of my own pocket that it were thine — nobody's but 
thine." 

The house was, however, sold to Isaac Norris, who 
devised it to his son Isaac, through whom it has de- 
scended down to the present proprietor, Sarah Norris 
Dickinson, his grand-daughter. 

It was occupied at one period, it is said, by Governor 
Hamilton, and, for many years preceding the war of 
independence, it was deemed a superior boarding house. 
While it held its rank as such, it was honoured with the 
company, and, finally, with the funeral honours of Gene- 
ral Forbes, successor to General Braddock, who died 
in that house in 1769. The pomp of his funeral from 
that house surpassed all the simple inhabitants had be- 
fore seen in their city. His horse was led before the 
procession, richly caparisoned, — the whole conducted 

* William Penn, in one of iiis notes, says, " Pray send me 
iny leather stockings." 

9 



98 HISTORIC TALES 

in all "the pomp of war," with funeral dirges, and a 
military array, with arms reversed, &c. 

In 1764, it was rented to be occupied as a distin- 
guished boarding house by the widow Graydon, mother 
of Captain Graydon of Carlisle, who has left us his 
amusing " Memoirs of sixty years' life in Pennsylvania." 
There his mother, as he informs us, had a great many 
gentry as lodgers. He describes the old house as very 
much of a castle in its construction, although built 
originally for a Friend. " It was a singular oldfashion- 
ed structure, laid out in the style of a fortification, with 
abundance of angles both salient and re-entering. Its 
two wings projected to the street in the manner of bas- 
tions, to which the main building, retreating from 16 to 
18 feet, served for a curtain."* "It had a spacious 
yard, half way to Front street, and ornamented with a 
double row of venerable lofty pines, which afforded a 
very agreeable rus in i/rZ>e." She continued there till 
1768-9, when she removed to Drinker's big house, up 
Front street near to Race street. Graydon's anecdotes 
of distinguished persons, especially of British officers 
and gentry who were inmates, are interesting. John 
Adams, and other members of the first congress, had 
their lodgings in " the Slate-house." 

=*= We may say of this house : — " Trade has changed the 
scene ;" for the recess is since filled out to the front with store 
windows, and the idea of the bastions, though still there, is 
lost. 



OF OLDEN TIME, 99 



THE CAVES. 



Most Philadelphians have had some vague concep- 
tions of the caves and cabins in which the primitive 
settlers made tlieir temporary residence. The caves 
were generally formed by digging into the ground, near 
the verge of the river-front bank, about three feet in 
depth ; thus making half their chamber under ground, 
and the remaining half above ground was formed of 
sods of earth, or earth and brush combined. The roofs 
were formed of layers of limbs, or split pieces of trees, 
overlaid with sod or bark, river-rushes, &,c. The chim- 
neys were of stones and river-pebbles, mortared to- 
gether with clay and grass, or river-reeds. The following 
facts may illustrate this subject, to wit : 

An original paper is in John Johnson's family, of the 
year 1683, which is an instrument concerning a division 
of certain lands, and " executed and witnessed in tiie 
cave of Francis Daniel Pastorius, Esq." 

On the 17th of 9th mo. 1685, it was ordered by the 
provincial executive council, that all famiHes living in 
caves should appear before the council. What a group 
they must have made ! This order was occasioned by 
the representations of the magistrates of Philadelphia, 
and enforced by a letter they had received from Gover- 
nor Penn, in England. No one, however, thought pro- 
per to obey the order. The council gave '' further 
notice" that the governor's orders relating to the caves 
will be put in execution in one month's time. 

In 1685, the grand jury present Joseph Knight, for 



100 HISTORIC TALES 

suffering drunkenness and evil orders in his cave ; and 
several drinking houses to debauch persons are also 
presented. They also present all the empty caves that 
do stand in the Front street, " which is to be 60 feet 
wide," wherefore, the court orders that they forthwith 
" be pulled down" by the constables, and " demolished;" 
[terms intimating they were in part above ground,] and 
upon request of John Barnes and Patrick Robinson, 
[the clerk of council,] who asked one month to pull 
down their respective caves, it was granted, on condi- 
tion that they fill up the hole in the street. On another 
occasion, they are called caves "or cabins" on the 
king's highway. 

Mrs. Hannah Speakman, now aged 75, has told me 
that she well remembered having seen and often played 
at an original cave, called " Owen's cave." It was in 
" Townsend's court," on the south side of Spruce 
street, west of Second street, on a shelving bank. It 
was dug into the hill, had grass growing upon the roof 
part, which was itself formed of close laid timber. The 
same man who had once inhabited it was still alive, and 
dwelt in a small frame house near it. Near the cave 
stood a large apple tree, and close by, on " Barclay's 
place," so called, she often gathered filberts and hickory 
nuts. The whole was an unimproved place only seventy 
years ago ; it being, from some cause, suffered to lay 
waste by the Barclay heirs. 

John Brown, and others, told me that the original 
cave of the Coates' family, in the Northern Liberties, 
was preserved in some form in the cellar of the family 
mansion, which remained till this year at the southwest 
corner of Green and Front streets. 



OF OLDEN TIME. 101 



HABITS AND STATE OF SOCIETY. 



"Not to know what has been transacted in former times, is 
always to remain a child." — Cicero. 

It is our intention (so far as facts will enable us) to 
raise some conceptions of the men and things as they 
existed in former years, chiefly such as they were when 
every thing partook of colonial submission and sim- 
plicity — when we had not learnt to aspire to great 
things. To this end we shall here dispose our collec- 
tions from " narrative old age," and show the state of 
the past, " glimmering through the dream of things that 
were/' 

Gabriel Thomas, in his account, of 1698, of the 
primitive state of society, speaks of great encourage- 
ments and ready pay given to all conditions of trades- 
men and working men. None need stand idle. Of 
lawyers and physicians, he remarks, he will say little, 
save that their services were little required, as all were 
peaceable and healthy. Women's wages he speaks of 
as peculiarly high, for two reasons ; the sex was not 
numerous, which tended to make them in demand, and 
therefore to raise the price. Besides, as these married 
by the time they were twenty years of age, they sought 
to procure a maid-servant for themselves in turn. Old 
maids were not to be met with, neither jealousy of hus- 
bands. The children were generally well favoured and 
beautiful to behold. He says he never knew any with 
the least blemish. William Penn also made the remark, 
9* 



102 HISTORIC TALES 

on his arrival, that all the houses of the Dutch and 
Swedes he found every where filled with a lusty and 
fine looking race of children. 

Numerous traditionary accounts attest the fact, that 
there was always among the early settlers a frank and 
generous hospitality. Their entertainments were de- 
void of glare and show, but always abundant and good. 
Mr. Calm, when here in 1748, expressed his great sur- 
prise at the universal freedom with which travellers 
were every where accustomed to leap over the hedges 
and take the fruit from the orchards, even while the 
owners were looking on, without refusal. Fine peaches, 
he says, were thus taken from the orchards of the 
poorest peasants, such as could only be enjoyed, as he 
said, by the nobility in his own country. What a golden 
age it must have appeared to him and others I 

The old people all testify, that the young of their 
youth were much more reserved, and held under much 
more restraint in the presence of their elders and pa- 
rents, than now. Bashfulness and modesty in the young 
were then regarded as virtues ; and the present freedom 
before the aged was not then countenanced. Young 
lovers then listened and took side-long glances, when 
before their parents or elders. 

Mrs. S N , who lived to be eighty years of 

age, told me it was the custom of her early days for the 
young part of the family, and especially of the female 
part, to dress up neatly towards the close of the day 
and set in the street porch. It was customary to go 
from porch to porch in neighbourhoods and sit and 
converse. Young gentlemen in passing used to affect 
to say that while they admired the charms of the fair 



OP OLDEN TIME. 103 

who thus occupied them, they found it a severe ordeal, 
as they thought they might become the subject of re- 
mark. This, however, was a mere banter. Those days 
were really very agreeable and sociable. To be so 
easily gratified with a sight of the whole city popula- 
tion, must have been peculiarly grateful to every tra- 
velling stranger. In truth, we have never seen a citizen 
who remembered the former easy exhibition of families, 
who did not regret its present exclusive and reserved 
substitute. 

The same lady told me it was a common occurrence 
to see genteel men after a fall of snow shovelling it away 
from their several doors. She has told me the names 
of several who would not now suffer their children to 
do the same. 

The late aged John Warder, Esq., told me that in his 
younger days he never knew of more than five or six 
persons at most, in the whole city, who did not live on 
the same spot where they pursued their business, — a 
convenience and benefit now so generally departed from 
by the general class of traders. Then wives and daugh- 
ters very often served in the stores of their family, and 
the retail dry goods business was mostly in the hands 
of widows or maiden ladies. 

Mrs. S. N. also informed me, that she remembers 
having been at houses when tea was a rarity, and has 
seen the quantity measured out for the tea pot in small 
hand scales. This was to apportion the strength with 
accuracy. 

In her early days, if a citizen failed in business it was 
a cause of general and deep regret. Every man who 
met his neighbour spoke of his chagrin. It was a rare 



104 HISTORIC TALES 

occurrence, because honesty and temperance in trade 
was then universal ; and none embarked then without 
a previous means adapted to their business. 

I have often heard aged citizens say, that decent citi- 
zens had a universal speaking acquaintance with each 
other, and every body promptly recognised a stranger 
in the streets. A simple or idiot person was known to 
the whole population. Every body knew Bobby Fox, 
and habitually jested with him as they met him. Michael 
Weaders too was an aged idiot, whom all knew and 
esteemed ; so much so, that they actually engraved his 
portrait as a remembrancer of his benignant and simple 
face. 

The tradesmen before the revolution (I mention these 
facts with all good feeling) were an entirely different 
generation of men from the present. They did not 
then, as now, present the appearance in dress of gen- 
tlemen. Between them and what were deemed the 
hereditary gentlemen, there was a marked difference. 
In truth, the aristocracy of the gentlemen was noticed, 
if not felt, and it was to check any undue assumption 
of ascendency in them, that the others invented the 
rallying name of "the Leather Apron Club," — a name 
with which they were familiar before Franklin's "junta" 
was formed and received that other name. In that day 
the tradesmen and their families had far less pride than 
now. While at their work, or in going abroad on 
week days, all such as followed rough trades, such as 
carpenters, masons, coopers, blacksmiths, 6lc. univer- 
sally wore a leathern apron before them, and covering 
all their vest. Dingy buckskin breeches, once yellow, 
and checked shirts and a red flannel jacket was the 



OF OLDEN TIME. 105 

common wear of most working men ; and all men and 
boys from the country were seen in the streets in leather 
breeches and aprons, and would have been deemed out 
of character without them. In those days, tailors, shoe- 
makers, and hatters, waited on customers to take their 
measures, and afterwards called with garments to fit 
them on before finished. 

The time was, when no dwelling house in the coun- 
try, and but few even in the city, were to be found with- 
out their spinning-wheels. It was the proud boast of the 
matrons of the revolution, to say, that without foreign aid, 
they kept the whole population clothed by their indus- 
try. In those days, no daughter received her marriage 
portion without both a big wheel and a foot wheel in- 
cluded ; and it was their pride to know how to use 
them. As it was, in fact, their recommendation, they 
took care to let them hold a foreground place in every 
house, so that as soon as you entered them, they either 
met the eye in the entry, or you heard and saw their 
whirring in the first room you entered. Then their 
music worked with magic spell on the industrious young 
yeomanry ; and *' Sweet home," played on such an in- 
strument, far excelled a modern piano in its influence 
on the heart. But now, one can hardly see a spinning- 
wheel, unless among the curiosities of a museum, or in 
the cocklofts of old houses, when demolishing them, 
there keeping company with panniers, side-saddles, and 
rush chairs. Productive industry, among young ladies, 
now, is neither required or valued. Every thing now 
is appreciated by its " gentility," and aims only to please 
"good society." 

One of the remarkable incidents of our republican 



106 HISTOEIC TALES 

principles of equality, is, that hirelihgs, who in times 
before the war of independence were accustomed to 
accept the name of servants, and to be drest according 
to their condition, will now no longer suffer the former 
appellation ; and all affect the dress and the air, when 
abroad, of genteeler people than their business warrants. 
Those, therefore, who from affluence have many such 
dependents, find it a constant subject of perplexity to 
manage their pride and assumption. 

In the olden time, all the hired women wore short- 
gowns and linsey-woolsey or worsted petticoats. Some 
are still alive who used to call master and mistress, who 
will no longer do it. 

These facts have been noticed by the London Quar- 
terly Review, which instances a case highly character- 
istic of their high independence : A lady, who had a 
large gala party, having rung somewhat passionately at 
the bell to call a domestic, was answered by a girl open- 
ing the saloon door, saying, " the more you ring, the 
more I wont come," and so withdrew ! Now all hired 
girls appear abroad in the same style of dress as their 
ladies ; for, 

" Excess, the scrofulous and itchy plague 
That seizes first the opulent, descends 
To the next rank, contagious ! and in time 
Taints downwards all the graduated scale," 

So true it is that every condition of society is now 
changed from the plain and unaffected state of our fore- 
fathers, — all are 

" Infected with the manners and the modes 
It knew not once !" . 



or OLDEN TIME. 107 

Before the revolution, no hired man or woman wore 
any shoes so fine as calfskin ; coarse neat's leather was 
their every day wear. Men and women then hired by 
the year, — men got 16 to 20Z., and a servant woman 8 
to \0l. Out of that it was their custom to lay up money, 
to buy before their marriage a bed and bedding, silver 
tea-spoons, and a spinning-wheel, &c. 

Among the rough amusements of men, might be men- 
tioned shooting, fishing, and sailing parties. These 
were frequent, as also glutton clubs; fishing-house and 
country parties were much indulged in by respectable 
citizens. Great sociability prevailed among all classes 
of citizens until the strife with Great Britain sent "every 
man to his own ways ;" then discord and acrimony en- 
sued, and the previously general friendly intercourse 
never returned. We afterwards grew another and en- 
larged people. 

Our girls in the day time, as told me by T. B., used 
to attend the work of the family, and in the evening 
paraded in their porch at the door. Some of them, 
however, even then read novels, and walked without 
business abroad. Those who had not house-work, em- 
ployed themselves in their accomplishments, such as 
making shell-work, cornucopias, working of pocket 
books with a close strong stitched needle work. 

The ladies, seventy years ago, were much accustomed 
to ride on horseback for recreation. It was quite com- 
mon to see genteel ladies riding with jockey caps. 

Boarding schools for girls were not known in Phila- 
delphia until about the time of the revolution, nor had 
they any separate schools for writing and cyphering, 
but were taught in common with boys. The ornamental 



108 HISTORIC TALES 

parts of female education were bestowed, but geogra- 
phy and grammar were never regarded for them, until 
a certain Mr. Horton — thanks to his name ! — proposed 
to teach those sciences to young ladies. Similar insti- 
tutions afterwards grew into favour. 

It was usual in the Gazettes of 1760 to '70 to an- 
nounce marriages in words like these, to wit : " Miss 
Betsey Laurence, or Miss Eliza Caton, a most agree- 
able lady, with a large or a handsome fortune." 

In still earlier times, marriages had to be promulged 
by affixing the intentions of the parties on the court 
house or meeting house door ; and when the act was 
solemnised, they should have at least twelve subscribing 
witnesses. The act which imposed it was passed in 
1700. 

Of articles and rules of diet, so far as it differed from 
ours in the earliest time, we may mention coffee, as a 
beverage, was used but rarely ; chocolate for morning 
and evening, or thickened milk for children. Cookery 
in general was plainer than now. In the country, 
morning and evening repasts were generally made of 
milk, having bread boiled therein, or else thickened 
with pop-robbins, — things made up of flour and eggs 
into a batter, and so dropt in with the boiling milk. 

We shall give the reader some little notice of a 
strange state of our society about the years 1795 to 
1 798, when the frenzy of the French revolution pos- 
sessed and maddened the boys, without any check or 
restraint from men half as puerile as themselves, in the 
delusive politics of the day. 

About the year 1793 to '94, there was an extrava- 
gant and impolitic afliection for France, and hostility to 



OF OLDEN TIME. 109 

every thing British, in our country generally. It re- 
quired all the prudence of Washington and his cabinet 
to stem the torrent of passion which flowed in favour 
of France to the prejudice of our neutrality. Now the 
event is passed, we may thus soberly speak of its cha- 
racter. This remark is made for the sake of intro- 
ducing the fact, that the patriotic mania was so high 
that it caught the feelings of the boys of Philadelphia ! 
I remember with what joy we ran to the wharves at 
the report of cannon to see the arrivals of the French- 
men's prizes, — we were so pleased to see the British 
union down. When we met French mariners or officers 
in the streets, we would cry, " Vive la Republique." 
Although most of us understood no French, we had 
caught many national airs, and the streets, by day and 
night, resounded with the songs of boys, such as these: 
<' Allons, enfans de la patrie, le jour de gloire est ar- 
rive!" &c. "Dansons le carmagnole, vive le sang, 
vive le sang!" &c. "A 9'ira, c'ira," &c. Several 
veises of each of these and others were thus sung. All 
of us, too, put on the national cockade. Some, whose 
parents had more discretion, resisted this boyish parade 
of patriotism for a doubtful revolution, and then they 
wore their cockade on the inside of their hat. Such a 
one I wore. I remember several boyish processions ; 
and on one occasion the girls, dressed in white and in 
French tri-coloured ribbons, formed a procession too. 
There was a great liberty pole, with a red cap at top, 
erected at Adet's or Fauchet's house, (now Girard's 
square, up High street ;) and there I and one hundred 
of others, taking hold of hands and forming a ring 
10 



110 HISTORIC TALES 

round the same, made triumpliant leapings, singing the 
national airs. 



APPAREL. 



" We run through every change, which fancy 
At the loom has genius to supply." 

There is a very marked and wide difference betweer? 
our moderns and the ancients in their several views of 
appropriate dress. The latter, in our judgment of 
them, were always stiff and formal, unchanging in their 
cut and fit in the gentry, or negligent and rough in 
texture in the commonalty ; whereas the moderns, cast- 
ing off all former modes and forms, and inventing every 
new device which fancy can supply, just please the 
wearers '' while the fashion is at full." 

It will much help our just conceptions of our fore- 
fathers, and their good dames, to know what was their 
personal appearance. To this end, some facts illustra- 
tive of their attire will be given. Such as it was 
among the gentry, was a constrained and pains-taking 
service, presenting nothing of ease and gracefulness in 
the use. While we may wonder at its adoption and 
long continuance, we will hope never again to see it 
return ! But who can hope to check or restrain fashion, 
if it should chance again to set that way ; or, who can 
foresee that the next generation may not be even more 
stiff and formal than any which has past, since we see, 
even now, our late graceful and easy habits of both 



OF OLDEN TIME. 



HI 



sexes already partially supplanted by " monstrous no- 
velty and strange disguise !" — men and women stiffly 
corsetted — another name for stays of yore, long un- 
natural looking waists, shoulders stuffed and deformed 
as Richard's, and artificial hips— protruding garments of 
as ample folds as claimed the ton when senseless hoops 
prevailed ! 

Our forefathers were excusable for their formal cut, 
since, knowing no changes in the mode, every child was 
like its sire, resting in "the still of despotism," to 
which every mind by education and habit was settled ; 
but no such apology exists for us, who have witnessed 
better things. We have been freed from their servi- 
tude ; and now to attempt to go back to their strange 
bondage, deserves the severest lash of satire, and 
should be resisted by every satirist and humourist who 
writes for public reform. 

In all these things, however, we must be subject to 
female control ; for, reason as we will, and scout at 
monstrous novelties as we may, female attractions will 
eventually win and seduce our sex to their attachment, 
"as the loveliest of creation," in whatever term they 
may choose to array. xVs '* it is not good for man to be 
alone," they will be sure to follow through every giddy 
maze which fashion runs. We know, indeed, that la- 
dies themselves are in bondage to their milliners, and 
often submit to their new imported modes with lively 
sense of dissatisfaction, even while they commit them- 
selves to the general current, and float along with the 
multitude. 

Our forefathers were occasionally fine practical sa- 
tirists on offensive innovations in dress — they lost no 



112 HISTORIC TALES 

time in paraphrastic verbiage which might or might not 
effect its aim, but with most effective appeal to the 
populace, they quickly carried their point, by nr.aking it 
the scoff and derision of the town ! On one occasion, 
when the ladies were going astray after a passion for 
long red cloaks, to which their lords had no affections, 
they succeeded to ruin their reputation, by concerting 
with the executioners to have a female felon hung in a 
eloak of the best ton. On another occasion, in the 
time of the Revolution, when the '' tower" head-gear 
of the ladies was ascending, Babel-like, to the skies, 
the growing enormity was effectually repressed, by the 
parade through the streets of a tall male figure in ladies 
attire, decorated with the odious tower gear, and pre- 
ceded by a drum. At an earlier period, one of the in- 
tended dresses, called a trollopee, (probably from the 
word trollop) became a subject of offence. The sa- 
tirists, who guarded and framed the sumptuary code of 
the town, procured the wife of Daniel Pettiteau, the 
hangman, to be arrayed in full dress trollopee, &;c. and 
to parade the town with rude music I Nothing could 
stand the derision of the populace ; delicacy and mo- 
desty shrunk from the gaze and sneers of the multitude, 
and the trollopee, like the others, was abandoned. 

Mr. B , a gentleman of eighty years of age, has 

given mc his recollections of the costume of his early 
days in Philadelphia, to this effect, to wit : Men wore 
three-square or cocked hats, and wigs, coats with large 
cuffs, big skirts, lined and stiffened with buckram. 
None ever saw a crown higher than the head. The 
coat of a beau had three or four large plaits in the 
skirts, wadding almost like a coverlet to keep them 



OF OLDEN TIME, 113 

smooth, cuffs very large, up to the elbows, open below 
and inclined down, with lead therein ; the capes were 
thin and low, so as readily to expose the close plaited 
neck-stock of fine linen cambric, and the large silver 
stock-buckle on the back of the neck, shirts with hand 
ruffles, sleeves finely plaited, breeches close fitted, with 
silver, stone or paste gem buckles, shoes or pumps with 
silver buckles of various sizes and patterns, thread, 
worsted and silk stockings ; the poorer class wore sheep 
and buckskin breeches close set to the limbs. Gold 
and silver sleeve buttons, set with stones or paste of 
various colours and kinds, adorned the wrists of the 
shirts of all classes. The very boys often wore wigs, 
and their dresses in general were similar to that of the 
men. 

The odious use of wigs was never disturbed till after 
the return of Braddock's broken army. They appeared 
in Philadelphia, wearing only the natural hair, a mode 
well adapted to the military, and thence adopted by our 
citizens. The king of England too, about this time, 
having cast off his wig, malgre the will of the people, 
and the petitions and remonstrances of the periwig 
makers of London, thus confirmed the change of fashion 
here, and completed the ruin of our wig makers.* 

The women wore caps, (a bare head was never seen !) 
stiff stays, hoops from six inches to two feet on each 
side, so that a full dressed lady entered a door like a 
crab, pointing her obtruding flanks end foremost, high 

* The use of wigs must have been peculiarly an English 
fashion, as I find Kalm in 1749 speaks of the French gentlemen 
then as wearing their own hair. 
10* 



114 HISTORIC TALES 

heeled shoes of black stuff with white silk or thread 
stockings ; and in the miry times of winter they wore 
clogs, gala shoes, or pattens. 

The days of stiff coats, sometimes wire-framed, and 
of large hoops, was also stiff and formal in manners at 
set balls and assemblages. The dances of that day 
among the politer class were minuets, and sometimes 
country dances ; among the lower order, hipsesaw was 
every thing. 

As soon as the wigs were abandoned and the natural 
hair was cherished, it became the mode to dress it by 
plaiting it, by queuing and clubbing, or by wearing it 
in a black silk sack or bag, adorned with a large black 
rose. 

In time, the powder, with which wigs and the natural 
hair had been severally adorned, was run into disrepute 
only about thirty years ago, by the then strange in- 
novation of " Brutus heads;" not only then discarding 
the long cherished powder and perfume and tortured 
frizzle- work, but also literally becoming " Round heads," 
by cropping off all the pendent graces of ties, bobs, 
clubs, queus, &c. The hardy beaux who first en- 
countered public opinion by appearing abroad unpow- 
dered and cropt, had many starers. The old men for 
a time obstinately persisted in adherence to the old re- 
gime, but death thinned their ranks, and use and pre- 
valence of numbers at length gave countenance to 
modern usage. 

Another aged gentleman. Colonel M., states, of the 
recollections of his youth, that young men of the highest 
fashion wore swords ; so frequent it was as to excite no 
surprise when seen. Men as old as forty so arrayed 



OF OLDEN TIME. 115 

themselves. They wore also gold laced cocked hats, 
and similar lace on their scarlet vests. Their coat 
skirts were stiffened with wire or buckram and lapt 
each other at the lower end in walking. In that day 
no man wore drawers, but their breeches (so called un- 
reservedly then) were lined in winter, and were tightly 
fitted. 

From various reminiscents we glean, that laced 
ruffles, depending over the hand, was a mark of indis- 
pensable gentility. The coat and breeches were gene- 
rally desirable of the same material, of " broadcloth" 
for winter, and of silk camlet for summer. No kind of 
cotton fabrics were then in use or known ; hose were 
therefore of thread or silk in summer, and of fine 
worsted in winter ; shoes were square-toed and were 
often " double channelled." To these succeeded sharp 
toes as peaked as possible. When wigs were univer- 
sally worn, grey wigs were powdered, and for that pur- 
pose sent in a paper box frequently to the barber to be 
dressed on his block-head. But " brown wigs," so 
called, were exempted from the white disguise. Coats 
of red cloih, even by boys, were considerably worn^ 
and plush breeches and plush vests of various colours^ 
shining and slipping, were in common use. Ever- 
lasting, made of worsted, was a fabric of great use for 
breeches, and sometimes for vests. The vest had great 
depending pocket flaps, and the breeches were very 
short above the stride, because the art of suspending 
them by suspenders was unknown. It was then the 
test of a well formed man, that he could by his natural 
form readily keep his breeches above his hips, and his 



1 16 HISTORIC TALES 

stockings, without gartering, above the calf of the leg. 
With the queus belonged frizzled side locks, and toutpies 
formed of the natural hair, or, in defect of a long tie, a 
splice was added to it. Such was the general passion 
for the longest possible whip of hair, that sailors and 
boat-men, to make it grow, used to tie theirs in eel 
skins to aid its growth. Nothing like surtouts were 
known ; but they had coating or cloth great coats, or 
blue cloth and brown camlet cloaks, with green baize 
lining to the latter. In the time of the American war, 
many of the American officers introduced the use of 
Dutch blankets for great coats. The sailors in the 
olden time used to wear hats of glazed leather or of 
woollen thrumbs, called chapeaus, closely woven and 
looking like a rough nap ; and their " small clothes," 
as we would say now, were immense wide petticoat 
breeches, wide open at the knees, and no longer. About 
70 years ago our working men in the country wore the 
same, having no falling flaps but slits in front ; they 
were so full and free in girth, that they ordinarily 
changed the rear to the front when the seat became 
prematurely worn out. In sailors and common people, 
big silver broaches in the bosom were displayed, and 
long quartered shoes with extreme big buckles on the 
extreme front. 

Gentlemen in the olden time used to carry muffiees 
in winter. It was in effect a little woollen mufT of va- 
rious colours, just big enough to admit both hands, and 
long enough to screen the wrists which were then more 
exposed than now ; for they then wore short sleeves to 
their coats purposely to display their fine linen and 



OF OLDEN TIME. 117 

plaited shirt sleeves, with their gold buttons and some- 
times laced ruffles. The sleeve cuffs were very wide, 
and hung down depressed with leads in them. 

In the summer season, men very often wore calico 
morning-gowns at all times of the day and abroad in the 
streets. A damask banyan was much the same thing 
by another name. Poor labouring men wore ticklen- 
berg linen for shirts, and striped ticken breeches ; they 
wore gray duroy-coats in winter ; men and boys always 
wore leather breeches. Leather aprons were used by 
all tradesmen and workmen. 

Some of the peculiarities of the female dress was to 
the following effect, to wit : Ancient ladies are still 
alive who have told me that they often had their hair 
tortured for four hours at a sitting, in getting the proper 
crisped curls of a hair curler. Some who designed to 
be inimitably captivating, not knowing they could be 
sure of professional services where so many hours were 
occupied upon one gay head, have actually had the 
operation 'performed the day before it was required, 
then have slept all night in a sitting posture to prevent 
the derangement of their frizzle and curls ! This is a 
real fact, and we could, if questioned, name cases. 
They were, of course, rare occurrences, proceeding 
from some extra occasions, when there were several to 
serve, and but few such refined hairdressers in the 
place. 

This formidable head-work was succeeded by rollers 
over which the hair was combed above the forehead. 
These again were superseded by cushions and artificial 
curled work, which could be sent out to the barber's 
block, like a wig, to be dressed, leaving the lady at 



1 1 8 HISTORIC TALES 

home to pursue other objects ; thus producing a grand 
reformation in the economy of time, and an exemption 
too, from former durance vile. 

When the ladies first began to lay off their cumbrous 
hoops, they supplied their place with successive succe- 
daneums, such as these, to wit : First came bishops, 
a thing stuffed or padded with horse hair ; then suc- 
ceeded a smaller affair under the name of ewe de Paris, 
also padded with horse hair ! How it abates our ad- 
miration to contemplate the lovely sex as bearing a roll 
of horse hair under their garments ! Next they supplied 
their place with silk or calimanco, or russell thickly 
quilted and inlaid with wool, made into petticoats ; then 
these were supplanted by a substitute of half a dozen 
of petticoats. No wonder such ladies needed fans in a 
sultry summer, and at a time when parasols were un- 
known, to keep off the solar rays ! I knew a lady going 
to a gala party who had so large a hoop that when she 
sat in the chaise she so filled it up, that the person who 
drove it (it had no top) stood up behind the box and 
directed the reins. 

Among some other articles of female wear we may 
name the following, to wit : Once they wore " a skim- 
mer hat," made of a fabric which shone like silver 
tinsel ; it was of a very small flat crown and big brim, 
not unlike the present Leghorn flats. Another hat, not 
unlike it in shape, was made of woven horse hair, wove 
in flowers, and called " horse hair bonnets," an article 
which might be again usefully introduced for children's 
wear as an enduring hat for long service. I have seen 
what was called a bath-bonnet, made of black satin, and 
so constructed to lay in folds that it could be set upon 



OF OLDEN TIME. 119 

like a chapeau bras, a good article now for travelling 
ladies. " The mush-mellon" bonnet, used before the 
K-evolution, had numerous whalebone stifTeners in the 
crown, set at an inch apart in parallel lines, and pre- 
senting ridges to the eye, between the bones. The 
next bonnet was the " whale-bone bonnet," having only 
the bones in the front as stiffeners. " A calash bonnet" 
was always formed of green silk ; it was worn abroad, 
covering the head, but when in rooms it could fall back 
in folds like the springs of a calash or gig top ; to keep 
it up over the head it was drawn up by a cord, always 
held in the hand of the wearer. The " wagon bonnet," 
always of black silk, was an article exclusively in use 
among the Friends, was deemed to look, on the head, 
not unlike the top of the Jersey wagons, and having a 
pendent piece of like silk hanging from the bonnet and 
covering the shoulders. The only straw wear was that 
called the " straw beehive bonnet," worn generally by 
old people. 

The ladies once wore " hollow breasted stays," 
which were exploded as injurious to the health. Then 
came the use of straight stays. Even little girls wore 
such stays. At one time the gowns worn had no 
fronts ! the design was to display a finely quilted Mar- 
seilles, silk or satin petticoat, and a worked stomacher 
on the waist. In other dresses a white apron was the 
mode ; all wore large pockets under their gowns. 
Among the caps was the " queen's night cap," the same 
always worn by Lady Washington. The " cushion 
head dress" was of gauze stiffened out in cylindrical 
form with white spiral wire. The border of the cap 
was called the balcony. 



120 HISTORIC TALES 

A lady of my acquaintance thus describes the recol- 
lections of her early days preceding the war of inde- 
pendence. Dress was discriminative and appropriate, 
both as regarded the season and the character of the 
wearer. Ladies never wore the same dresses at work 
and on visits ; they sat at home, or went out in the 
morning, in chintz ; brocades, satins and mantuas were 
reserved for evening or dinner parties. Robes or ne- 
gligees, as they were called, were always worn in full 
dress. Muslins were not worn at all. Little misses at 
a dancing-school ball (for these were almost the only 
fetes that fell to their share in the days of discrimina- 
tion) were dressed in frocks of lawn or cambric. 
Worsted was then thought dress enough for common 
days. 

As a universal fact, it may be remarked that no other 
colour than black was ever made for ladies bonnets 
when formed of silk or satin. Fancy colours were un- 
known, and white bonnets of silk fabric had never been 
seen. The first innovation remembered, was the bring- 
ing in of blue bonnets. 

The time was, when the plainest women among the 
Friends (now so averse to fancy colours) wore their 
coloured silk aprons, say, of green, blue, &;c. This was 
at a time when the gay wore white aprons. In time, 
white aprons were disused by the gentry, and then the 
Friends left off their coloured ones and used the white. 
The same old ladies, among Friends, whom we can re- 
member as wearers of the white aprons, wore also large 
white beaver hats, with scarcely the sign of a crown, 
and which was indeed confined to the head by silk cords 
tied under the chin. Eight dollars would buy such a 



OF OLDEN TIME. 121 

hat, when beaver fur was more plentiful. They lasted 
such ladies almost a whole life of wear. They showed 
no fur. 

Very decent women went abroad and to churches, 
with check aprons. I have seen those, who kept their 
coach in my time to bear them to church, who told me 
they went on foot with a check apron to the Arch street 
Presbyterian meeting in their youth. Then all hired 
women wore short-gowns and petticoats of domestic 
fabric, and could be instantly known as such whenever 
seen abroad. 

In the former days it was not uncommon to see aged 
persons with large silver buttons to their coats and 
vests— it was a mark of wealth. Some had the initials 
of their names engraved on each button. Sometimes 
they were made out of real quarter dollars, with the 
coinage impression still retained, — these were used for 
the coats, and the eleven-penny bits for vests and 
breeches. My father wore an entire suit decorated 
with conch-shell buttons, silver mounted. 

Even spectacles, permanently useful as they are, have 
been subjected to the caprice of fashion. Now they are 
occasionally seen of gold, a thing I never saw in my 
youth ; neither did I ever see one young man with 
spectacles, now so numerous. A purblind or half- 
sighted youth then deemed it his positive disparagement 
to be so regarded. Such would have rather run against 
a street post six times a day, than have been seen with 
them ! Indeed, in early olden time they had not the art 
of using temple spectacles. Old Mrs. Shoemaker, who 
died in 1825 at the age of 95, said that she had lived 
many years in Philadelphia before she ever saw temple 
11 



122 



HISTORIC TALES 



spectacles ; a name then given as a new discovery, but 
now so common as to have lost its distinctive character. 
In her early years the only spectacles she ever saw were 
called " bridge spectacles," without any side supporters, 
and held on the nose solely by nipping the bridge of the 
nose. 

My grandmother wore a black velvet mask in winter 
with a silver mouth-piece to keep it on, by retaining it 
in the mouth, I have been told that green ones have 
been used in summer for some few ladies, for riding in 
the sun on horseback. 

Ladies formerly wore cloaks as their chief over coats ; 
they were used with some changes of form under the 
successive names of roquelaues, capuchins, and car- 
dinals. 

In Mrs. Shoemaker's time, above named, they had no 
knowledge of umbrellas to keep off rain, but she had 
seen some kw use kitisols — an article as small as pre- 
sent parasols now. They were entirely to keep off rain 
from ladies. They were of oiled muslin, and were of 
various colours, from India by way of England. They 
must, however, have been but rare, as they never appear 
in any advertisements. 

Doctor Chancellor and the Rev. Mr. Duche were the 
first persons in Philadelphia who were ever seen to 
wear umbrellas to keep off the rain. They were of 
oiled linen, very coarse and clumsy, with ratan sticks. 
Before their time, some doctors and ministers used an 
oiled linen cape hooked round their shoulders, looking 
not unlike the big coat capes now in use, and then 
called a roquelaue. It was only used for severe storms. 

About the year 1771, the first efforts were made in 



OF OLDEN TIME. 123 

Philadelphia to introduce the use of umbrellas in sum- 
mer, as a defence from the sun. Tiiey were then 
scouted in the public gazettes as a ridiculous effemi- 
nacy. On the other hand, the physicians recommended 
them to keep off vertigoes, epilepsies, sore eyes, fevers, 
&-C. Finally, as the doctors were their chief patrons, 
Doctor Chancellor and Doctor Morgan, with the Rev. 
Parson Duche, were the first persons who had the 
hardihood to be so singular as to wear umbrellas in 
sunshine. Mr. Bingham, when he returned from the 
We^t Indies, where he had amassed a great fortune in 
the Revolution, appeared abroad in the streets attended 
by a mulatto boy bearing his umbrella. But his exam- 
ple did not take, and he desisted from its use. 

In the old time, shagreen-cased watches, turtle shell 
and pinchbeck, were the earliest kind seen ; but watches 
of any kind were much more rare then. When they 
began to come into use, they were so far deemed a mat- 
ter of pride and show, that men are living who have 
heard public Friends express their concern at seeing 
their youth in the show of watches or watch chains. It 
was so rare to find watches in common use that it was 
quite an annoyance to the watchmakers to be so re- 
peatedly called on by street passengers for thv» hour of 
the day. Mr. Duffield, therefore, first set up an out- 
door clock to give the time of day to people in the 
street. Gold chains would have been a wonder then ; 
silver and steel chains and seals were the mode, and 
regarded good enough. The best gentlemen of the 
cciuntry were content with silver watches, although 
gold ones were occasionallv used. Gold watches for 



124 HISTORIC TALES 

ladies was a rare occurrence, and when worn were 
kept without display, for domestic use. 

The men of former days never saw such things as 
our Mahometan whiskers on Christian men. 

The use of boots have come in since the war of in- 
dependence ; they were first with black tops, after the 
military, strapped up in union with the knee bands ; 
afterwards bright tops were introduced. The leggings 
to these latter were made of buckskin, for some extreme 
beaux, for the sake of close fitting a well turned leg. 

It having been the object of these pages to notice 
the change of fashions in the habiliments of men and 
women from the olden to the modern time, it may be 
necessary to say, that no attempt has been made to note 
the quick succession of modern changes, — precisely be- 
cause they are too rapid and evanescent for any useful 
record. The subject, however, leads me to the general 
remark, that the general character of our dress is al- 
ways ill adapted to our climate ; and this fact arises 
from our national predilection as English. As English 
colonists we early introduced the modes of our British 
ancestors. They derived their notions of dress Irom 
France ; aud we, even now, take all annual fashions 
from tiie ton of England, — a circumstance which leads 
us into many unseasonable and injurious imitations, very 
ill adapted to either our hotter or colder climate. Here 
we have the extremes of heat and cold. There they 
are moderate. The loose and light habits of the east, 
or of southern Europe, would be better adapted to the 
ardour of our midsummers ; and the close and warm 
apparel of the north of Europe might furnish us better 
examples for our severe winters. 



OF OLDEN TIME. 125 

But in these matters (while enduring the profuse 
sweating of 90 degrees of heat) we fashion after the 
modes of England, which are adapted to a climate 
of but 70 degrees ! Instead, therefore, of the broad 
slouched hat of southern Europe, we have the narrow 
brim, a stiff stock or starched buckram collar for the 
neck, a coat so close and tight as if glued to our skins, 
and boots so closely set over our insteps and ancles, as 
if over the lasts on which they were made. Our ladies 
have as many ill adapted dresses and hats ; and sadly 
their healths are impaired in our rigorous winters, by 
their thin stuff shoes and transparent and light draperies, 
affording but slight defence for tender frames against 
the cold. 



FURNITURE AND EQUIPAGE. 



" Dismiss a real elegance, a little used. 

For monstrous novelty and strange disguise." 

The tide of fashion, which overwhelms every thing in 
its onward course, has almost effaced every trace of 
what our forefathers possessed or used in the way of 
household furniture, or travelling equipage. Since the 
year 1800 the introduction of foreign luxury, caused by 
the influx of wealth, has been yearly effecting successive 
changes in those articles, so much so, that the former 
simple articles which contented, as they equally served 
the purposes of our forefathers, could hardly be con- 
ceived. Such as they were, they descended acceptably 
11* 



1 26 HISTORIC TALES 

unchanged from father to son and son's son, and pre- 
senting at the era of our independence, precisely the 
same family picture which had been seen in the earhest 
annals of the town. 

Formerly there were no sideboards, and when they 
were first introduced after the Revolution, they were 
much smaller and less expensive than now. Formerly 
they had couches of worsted damask, and only in very 
affluent families, in lieu of what we now call sophas or 
lounges. Plain people used settees and settles, — the 
latter had a bed concealed in the seat, and by folding 
the top of it outwards to the front, it exposed the bed 
and widened the place for the bed to be spread upon it. 
This, homely as it might now be regarded, was a com- 
mon sitting room appendage, and was a proof of more 
attention to comfort than display. It had, as well as 
the settee, a very high back of plain boards, and the 
whole was of white pine, generally unpainted and 
whitened well with unsparing scrubbing. Such was in 
the poet's eyes when pleading for his sopha, — 

" But restless was the seat, the back erect 
Distress'd the weary loins that felt no ease." 

They were a very common article in very good 
houses, and were generally the proper property of the 
oldest members of the family, unless occasionally used 
to stretch the weary length of tired boys. They were 
placed before the fire-places in the winter, to keep the 
back guarded from wind and cold. Formerly there 
were no Windsor chairs, and fancy chairs are still more 
modern. Their chairs of the genteelest kind were of 
mahogany or red walnut, (once a great substitute for 



OF OLDEN TIME. 127 

mahogany in all kinds of furniture, tables, &.c.) or else 
they were of rush bottoms, and made of maple posts and 
slats, with high backs and perpendicular. Instead of 
japanned waiters as now, they had mahogany tea boards 
and round tea tables, which, being turned on an axle 
underneath the centre, stood upright, like an expanded 
fan or palm leaf, in the corner. Another corner was 
occupied by a beaufet, which was a corner closet with 
a glass door, in which all the china of the family and 
the plate were intended to be displayed for ornament 
as well as use. A conspicuous article in the collection 
was always a great china punch bowl, which furnished 
a frequent and grateful beverage, — for wine drinking 
was then much less in vogue. China tea cups and 
saucers were about half their present size ; and china 
tea pots and coffee pots with silver nozles was a mark 
of superior finery. The sham of plated ware was not 
then known ; and all who showed a silver surface had 
the massive metal too. This occurred in the wealthy 
families, in little coffee and tea pots, and a silver tankard 
for good sugared toddy, was above vulgar entertain- 
ment. Where we now use earthen ware, they then used 
delf ware imported from England, and instead of queens- 
ware (then unknown) pewter platters and porringers, 
made to shine along a " dresser," were universal. 
Some, and especially the country people, ate their meals 
from wooden trenchers. Gilded looking-glasses and 
picture frames of golden glare were unknown, and both, 
much smaller than now, were used. Small pictures 
painted on glass with black mouldings for frames, with 
a scanty touch of gold leaf in the corners, was the 
adornment of a parlour. The looking-glasses in two 



128 HISTORIC TALES 

plates, if large, had either glass frames, figured with 
flowers engraved thereon, or were of scalloped ma- 
hogany, or of Dutch wood scalloped, painted white or 
black with here and there some touches of gold. Every 
householder in that day deemed it essential to his con- 
venience and comfort to have an ample chest of drawers 
in his parlour or sitting room, in which the linen and 
clothes of the family were always of ready access. It 
was no sin to rummage them before company. These 
drawers were sometimes nearly as high as the ceiling. 
At other times they had a writing desk about the centre 
with a falling lid to write upon when let down. A 
great high clock case, reaching to the ceiling, occupied 
another corner, and a fourth corner was appropriated 
to the chimney place. They then had no carpets on 
their floors, and no paper on their walls. The silver 
sand on the floor was drawn into a variety of fanciful 
figures and twirls with the sweeping brush, and much 
skill and even pride was displayed therein in the devices 
and arrangement. They had then no argand or other 
lamps in parlours,* but dipt candles, in brass or copper 
candlesticks, were usually good enough for common use ; 
and those who occasionally used mould candles, made 
them at home, in little tin frames, casting four to six 
candles in each. A glass lanthorn with square sides 
furnished the entry lights in the houses of the affluent. 
Bedsteads then were made, if fine, of carved mahogany, 
of slender dimensions ; but, for common purposes, or 
for the families of good tradesmen, they were of poplar 



* The first which ever came to this country is in my possession, 
originally a present from Thomas Jefferson to Charles Thomson. 



OF OLDEN TIME. 129 

and always painted green. It was a matter of universal 
concern to have them low enough to anwer the purpose 
of repose for sick or dying persons, a provision so ne- 
cessary for such possible events, now so little regarded 
by the modern practice of ascending to a bed by steps, 
like clambering up to a hay mow. 

The rarity of carpets, now deemed so indispensable 
to comfort, may be judged of by the fact, that T. Matlack, 
Esq. now aged ninety-five, told me had a distinct recol- 
lection of meeting with the first carpet he had ever seen 
about the year 1750, at the house of Owen Jones, at 
the corner of Spruce and Second street. Mrs. S. Shoe- 
maker, an aged Friend of the same age, told mc she 
had received as a rare present from England, a Scotch 
carpet ; it was but twelve feet square, and was deemed 
quite a novelty then, say sixty years ago. When carpets 
afterwards came into general use, they only covered 
the floor in front of the chairs and tables. The cover- 
ing of the whole floor is a thing of modern use. Many 
are the anecdotes which could be told of the carpets 
and the country bumpkins. There are many families 
who can remember, that soon after their carpets were 
laid, they have been visited by clownish persons, who 
showed strong signs of distress at being obliged to walk 
over them ; and when urged to come in, have stole in 
close to the sides of the room tip-toed, instinctively, to 
avoid sullying them ! 

It was mentioned before that the papering of the walls 
of houses was not much introduced till the year 1800. 
All the houses which I remember to have seen in my 
youth were white-washed only ; there may have been 
some rare exceptions. As early as the year 1769, we 



130 



HISTORIC TALES 



see that Plunket Fleeson first manufactures American 
paper hangings at corner of Fourth and Chesnut street, 
and also paper mache or raised paper mouldings, in 
imitation of carving, either coloured or gilt. But al- 
though there was thus an offer to paper rooms, their 
introduction must have been extremely rare. The uncle 
of the present Joseph P. Norris, Esq. had his library 
or office room papered, but his parlours were wain- 
scotted with oak and red cedar, unpainted, and polished 
with wax and robust rubbing. This was at his seat at 
Fairhill, built in 1717. 

The use of stoves in families was not known in primi- 
tive times, neither in families nor in churches. Their 
fire-places were as large again as the present, with much 
plainer mantel-pieces. In lieu of marble plates round 
the sides and top of the fire-places, it was ornamented 
with china-dutch tile, jHctured with sundry Scripture 
pieces. Doctor Franklin first invented the " open 
stove," called also "Franklin stove;" after which, as 
fuel became scarce, came in the better economy of the 
" ten plate stove." 

When china was first introduced among us in the 
form of tea sets, it was quite a business to take in broken 
china to mend. It was done by cement in most cases; 
but generally the larger articles, like punch bowls, were 
done with silver rivets or wire. More than half the 
punch bowls you could see were so mended. 

It is only of late years that the practice of veneering 
mahogany and other valuable wood has prevailed among 
us. All the old furniture was solid. 



OF OLDEN TIME. 131 

FAMILY EQUIPAGE. 

There is scarcely any thing in Philadelphia which 
has undergone so great a change as the increased style 
and number of our travelling vehicles and equipage. 
I have seen aged persons who could name the few pro- 
prietors of every coach used in the whole province of 
Pennsylvania — a less number than are now enrolled on 
the books of some individual establishments among us 
for the mere hiring of coaches ! Even since our war of 
independence, there were not more than ten or twelve 
in the city, and, rare as they were, every man's coach 
was known at sight by every body. A hack had not 
been heard of. Our progenitors did not deem a car- 
riage a necessary appendage of wealth or respectability. 
Merchants and professional gentlemen were quite con- 
tent to keep a one-horse chair ; these had none of the 
present trappings of silver plate, nor were the chair 
bodies varnished ; plain paint alone adorned them, and 
brass rings and buckles were all the ornaments found 
on the harness ; the chairs were without springs, on 
leather bands — such as could now be made for fifty 
dollars. 

James Read, Esq., an aged gentleman who died in 
the fever of 1793, said he could remember when there 
were only eight four-wheeled carriages kept in all the 
province ! 

At the earliest period of the city, some two or three 
coaches are incidentally known. Thus William Penn, 
the founder, in his note to James Logan of 1700, says, 
" Let John (his black) have the coach, and horses put 
in it, for Pennsbury, from the city." In another, he 



132 HISTORIC TALES 

speaks of his " calash." He also requests the justices 
may place bridges over the Pennepack and other waters, 
for his carriage to pass. 

The aged T. Matlack, Esq. before named, told me 
the first coach he remembered to have seen was that of 
Judge William Allen's, who lived in Water street, on 
the corner of the first alley below High street. His 
coachman, as a great whip, was imported from England. 
He drove a kind of landau with four black horses. To 
show his skill as a driver, he gave the judge a whirl 
round the shambles, which then stood where Jersey 
market is since built, and turned with such dashing 
science as to put the judge and the spectators in great 
concern. The tops of this carriage fell down front and 
back, and thus made an open carriage if required. 

Mrs. Shoemaker, aged ninety-five, told me that plea- 
sure carriages were very rare in her youth. She remem- 
bered that her grandfather had one, and that he used to 
say he was almost ashamed to appear abroad in it, al- 
though it was only a one horse chair, lest he should be 
thought effeminate and proud. She remembered old 
Richard Wistar had one also. When she was about 
twenty, Mr. Charles Willing, merchant, brought a ca- 
lash coach with him from England. This and Judge 
William Allen's were the only ones she had ever seen. 
This Charles Willmg was the father of the late aged 
Thomas Willing, Esq., president of the first Bank of the 
United States. 

Even the character of the steeds used and preferred 
for riding and carriages, have undergone the change of 
fashion too. In old time, the horses most valued were 
pacers — now so odious deemed ! To this end, the breed 



OF OLDEN TIME. 133 

was propagated with care, and pace races were held in 
preference. The Narraganset racers of Rhode Island 
were in such repute, that they were sent for, at much 
trouble and expense, by some few who were choice in 
their selections. 



NOTICES OF SUNDRY CHANGES AT PHILADELPHIA. 



I INTRODUCE herein a few striking objects, formerly 
so different from the present, for the purpose of showing 
the changes effected, to wit : 

BRIDGES. 

It might justly surprise a modern Philadelphian, or a 
stranger visiting our present levelled city, to learn it 
was once crowded with bridges, having at least one 
dozen of them — the subjects of frequent mention and 
care. I shall herein chiefly notice such as have been 
disused. As many as six of them traversed Dock creek 
alone. The following occasional notices of them, on 
the records, will prove their existence, to wit : 

In 1704, the grand jury present the bridge, going 
over the dock at the south end of the town, as insuffi- 
cient, and endangers man and beast. It is also called 
'* the bridge and causeway next to Thomas Budd's 
long row." 

In 1706, the grand jury having viewed the place 
where the bridge going towards the Society Hill lately 
12 



134 HISTOEIC TALES 

was, (but then broken down and carried away by a 
storm,) do present a- bridge as needful to be rebuilt. 

In 1712, they present the passage down under the 
arch, (meaning at corner of Front and Arch street,) as 
not passable ; and again they present that the same, to 
wit : " The arch in the Front street is very dangerous 
for children in the day-time, and strangers in the night ; 
neither is it passable underneath for carriages." 

In 1713, they present the bridge at the Dock mouth, 
and the causeway betwixt that and Society Hill, want 
repairs ; so also, the bridge over the Dock and the 
Second street ; also, the bridge in the Third street 
where the dock is. 

In 1717, they present the bridge over the Dock in 
Walnut street, the breach of the arch whereof appears 
dangerous, and tending to ruin, which a timely repair 
may prevent. It was just built, too, by Samuel Powell. 

In 1718, they present the great arch in Front street, 
the arch in Second street, the arch in Walnut street, as 
insufficient for man and beast to pass over. They re- 
commend the removal of the great arch at Mulberry 
street, as desirable for affording a handsome prospect 
of the Front street. The Second street bridge was 
built of stone in 1720, by Edward Collins, for 1257. 

In 1719, they present the arch in Chesnut street, 
between the house of Grace Townsend and the house 
of Edward Pleadwell, as part broken down. This refers 
to a bridge over Dock creek at Hudson's alley. At 
the same time the three bridges over the dock in the 
Front, Second, and Walnut streets, are all declared 
'^ unfinished and unsafe." The same year the inha- 
bitants near the Chesnut street bridge petition the 



OF OLDEN TIME. 135 

mayor's court for repairs to that bridge, to keep it from 
falling. 

In 1740, they present " the common shore," at Se- 
cond street and Walnut street bridges, as much broken. 
" Common shore" sounds strange in the midst of our 
present dry city! It is also found named on the same 
Dock creek as high as Fourth and High streets. In 
1750, they present the Chesnut street bridge, as fallen 
down and extremely dangerous. 

Some other facts concerning bridges will be found 
connected with other subjects, such as those over Pegg's 
run, the Cohocsink, &:-c. There was even a small 
bridge once at the corner of Tenth and High streets. 

BALCONIES. 

In the early days of the city, almost all the houses of 
good condition were provided with balconies, now so 
rarely to be seen, save a (e\v still remaining in Water 
street. Several old houses, which I still see, show, on 
close inspection, the marks, where from that cause they 
formerly had doors to them in the second stories — such 
a one is C. P. Wayne's, at the southwest corner of 
High and Fourth street ; at William Gerhard's, at the 
corner of Front and Combes's alley ; and at the corner 
of Front and Norris's alley. 

As early as 1685, Robert Turner's letter to William 
Penn says, " We build most houses with balconies." 
A lady, describing the reception of Governor Thomas 
Penn on his public entry from Chester in 1732, says, 
" When he reached here in the afternoon, the windows 
and balconies were filled with ladies, and the streets 
with the mob, to see him pass," In fact, these balco- 



136 HISTORIC TALES 

nies, or their places supplied by the pent-houses, were 
a part of the social system of our forefatliers, where 
every family expected to sit in the street porch, and 
these shelters over head were needed from sun and rain. 

WINDOW GLASS. 

The early buildings in Philadelphia had all their win- 
dow glass set in leaden frames, and none of them to 
hoist up, but to open inward as doors. Gerhard's house 
at Combes's alley, and the house at the southwest corner 
of Norris's alley and Front street, still retain a specimen 
of them. When clumsy wooden frames were substitu- 
ted, panes of six by eight and eight by ten formed the 
largest dimensions seen among us. It became, there- 
fore matter of novelty and surprise when Governor John 
Penn first set the example among us of larger panes,— 
such as now adorn the house, once his residence, in 
South Third street near the mansion house, and num- 
bered 110. They are still but small panes in compari- 
son with some others. The fact of his rare glass gave 
occasion to the following epigram by his sister-in-law, 
to wit; 

Happy the man, in such a treasure, 
Whose greatest panes afford him pleasure ; 
Stoics (who need not fear the devil) 
Maintain that pain is not an evil ; 
They boast a negative at best, 
But he with panes is really blest. 



TORCHES. 

Philadelphia, until the last twenty-five or thirty years, 
had a porch to every house door, where it was uni. 



OF OLDEN TIME. 1.'37 

versally common for the inhabitants to take their occa- 
sional sitting, beneath their pent-houses, then general — 
for then 

" Our fathers knew the value of a screen 
From sultry sun, or patt'ring rain." 

Such an easy access to the residents as they afforded, 
made the families much more social than now, and 
gave also a ready chance to strangers to see the faces 
of our pretty ladies. The lively spectacle was very 
grateful. It gave a kindly domestic scene, that is since 
utterly effaced from our manners. 

When porches were thus in vogue, they were seen 
here and there occupied by boys, who there vied in 
telling strange incredible stories, and in singing ballads. 
Fine voices were occasionally heard singing them as 
you passed the streets. 

GENERAL REMARKS ON VARIOUS ITEMS OF CHANGE. 

I notice as among the remarkable changes of Phila- 
delphia, within the period of my own short observation, 
that there is an utter change of the manner and quan- 
tity of business done by tradesmen. When I was a 
boy, there was no such thing as conducting their busi- 
ness in the present wholesale manner and by efforts at 
monopoly. No masters were seen exempted from per- 
sonal labour in any branch of business, living on the 
profits derived from many hired journeymen ; and no 
places were sought out at much expense and display 
of signs and decorated windows to allure custom. 
Then almost every apprentice, when of age, run his 
equal chance for his share of business in his neighbour- 
12* 



138 HISTORIC TALES 

hood, by setting up for himself, and, with an apprentice 
or two,* getting into a cheap location, and by dint of 
application and good work, recommending himself to 
his neighbourhood. Thus every shoemaker or tailor 
was a man for himself; thus was every tinman, black- 
smith, hatter, wheelwright, weaver, barber, bookbinder, 
umbrella maker, coppersmith and brassfounder, painter 
and glazier, cedar cooper, plasterer, cabinet and chair- 
maker, chaisemaker, &c. It was only trades indispen- 
sably requiring many hands, among whom we saw 
many journeymen^ — such as shipwrights, brickmakers, 
masons, carpenters, tanners, printers, stonecutters, and 
such like. In those days, if they did not aspire to much, 
they were more sure of the end — a decent competency 
in old age, and a tranquil and certain livelihood while 
engaged in the acquisition of its reward. Large stores, 
at that time, exclusively wholesale, were but rare, ex- 
cept among the shipping merchants, so called ; and it 
is fully within my memory, that all the hardware stores, 
which were intended to be wholesale dealers, by having 
their regular sets of country customers, for whose sup- 
plies they made their regular importations, were obliged, 
by the practice of the trade and the expectations of the 
citizens, to be equally retailers in their ordinary busi- 
ness. They also, as subservient to usage, had to be 
regular importers of numerous stated articles in the 
dry goods line, and especially in most articles in the 
woollen line. At that time, ruinous overstocks of goods 
imported were utterly unknown, and supplies from auc- 

* Apprentices then were found in every thing; — now they often 
give a premium,; or find their own clothes, &.c. 



OF OLDEN TIME. 139 

tion sales, as now, were neither depended upon nor re- 
sorted to. The same advance " on the sterling" was 
the set price of every storekeeper's profit. As none 
got suddenly rich by monopolies, they went through 
whole lives, gradually but surely augmenting their es- 
tates, without the least fear or the misfortune of bank- 
ruptcy. When it did rarely occur, such was the sur- 
prise and the general sympathy of the public, that 
citizens saluted each other with sad faces, and made 
their regrets and condolence a measure of common 
concern. 

It strikes me as among the remarkable changes of 
modern times, that blacksmith shops, which used to be 
low, rough one story sheds, here and there in vari- 
ous parts of the city, and always/fronting on the main 
streets, have been crowded out as nuisances, or rather 
as eyesores to genteel neighbourhoods. Then the work- 
men stood on ground floors in clogs or wooden soled 
shoes, to avoid the damp of the ground. But now they 
are seen to have tlieir operations in genteel three story 
houses, with warerooms in front, and with their furnaces 
and anvils, &lc. in the yards or back premises. 

" Lines of packets," as we now see them, for Liver- 
pool and for Havre, abroad, and for Charleston, New 
Orleans, Norfolk, &c. at home, are but lately origi- 
nated among us. The London packet in primitive days 
made her voyage but twice a year. And before the 
revolution, all vessels going to England or Ireland used 
to be advertised on the walls of the corner houses, say- 
ing when to sail and where they laid. Some f^ew in- 
stances of this kind occurred even after the war of 



140 HISTORIC TALES 

independence. In those days, vessels going to Great 
Britain was usually called '■'■ going home." 

Kalm, when here eighty years ago, made a remark 
which seemed to indicate that then INew York, though 
so much smaller as a city, was the most commercial, 
saying, " It probably carries on a more extensive com- 
merce than any town in the English colonies, and it is 
said they send more ships to London than they do from 
Philadelphia." 

From the period of 1790 to 1800, the London trade 
was all the channel we used for the introduction of 
spring and fall goods. The arrival of the London ships, 
at Clifford's wharf, used to set the whole trading com- 
munity in a bustle to see them "haul in to the wharf." 
Soon the whole range of Front street, from Arch to 
Walnut street, was lumbered with the packages from 
the Pigou, the Adrianna, the Washington, &c. 

Great and noisy was the breaking up of packages, 
and busy were the masters, clerks, and porters, to get 
in and display their new arrived treasures. Soon after 
were seen the city retailers, generally females in that 
time, hovering about like butterflies near a rivulet, 
mingling among the men, and viewing with admiration 
the rich displays of British chintzes, muslins, and cali- 
coes, of the latest London modes. The Liverpool trade 
was not at that time opened, and Liverpool itself had 
not grown into the overwhelming rival of Bristol and 
Hull — places with which we formerly had some trade 
for articles not drawn from the great London store- 
house. 



OF OLDEN TIME. 141 



SUPERSTITIONS, AND POPULAR CREDULITY. 



" Well attested, and as well believ'd, 
Heard solemn, goes the goblin-story round, 
Till superstitious horror creeps o'er all I" 

Our forefathers (the ruder part) brought with them 
much of the superstition of their "fatherland," and 
here it found much to cherish and sustain it, in the cre- 
dulity of the Dutch and Swedes ; nor less from the In- 
dians, who always abounded in marvellous relations, 
much incited by their conjurers and pow-vows. Facts 
which have come down to our more enlightened times, 
can now no longer terrify, but may often amuse ; as 
Cowper says, 

" There 's something in that ancient superstition, 
Which, erring as it is, our fancy loves !" 

From the provincial executive minutes, preserved at 
Harrisburg, we learn the curious fact of an actual trial 
for witchcraft. On the 27th of 12th mo. 1683, Marga- 
ret Mattson and Yeshro Hendrickson, (Swedish wo- 
men,) who had been accused as witches on the 7th 
instant, were cited to their trial ; on which occasion 
there were present, as their judges, Governor William 
Penn and his council, James Harrison, William Biles, 
Lasse Cock, William Haigne, C. Taylor, William Clay- 
ton, and Thomas Holmes. The governor having given 
the grand jury their charge, they found the bill ! The 
testimony of the witnesses before the petit jury is re- 
corded. Such of the jury as were absent were fined 
forty shillings each. 



142 HISTOEIC TALES 

Margaret Mattson being arraigned, " she pleads not 
guilty, and will be tried by the country." Sundry wit- 
nesses were sworn, and many vague stories told— as 
that she bewitched calves, geese, &.c. &c., that oxen 
were rather above her malignant powers, but which 
reached all other cattle. 

The daughter of Margaret Mattson was said to have 
expressed her convictions of her mother being a witch. 
And the reported say-sos of the daughter were given in 
evidence. The dame Mattson " denieth Charles Asb- 
com's attestation at her soul, and saith. Where is my 
daughter ? Let her come and say so." " The prisoner 
denieth all things, and saith that the witness speaks 
only by hearsay." Governor Penn finally charged 
the jury, who brought in a verdict sufficiently ambigu- 
ous and ineffective for such a dubious offence, saying 
they find her ''guilty of having the common fame of 
a w^itch, but not guilty in the manner and form as 
she stands indicted." They, however, take care to 
defend the good people from their future rnalfaisance, 
by exacting from each of them security for good be- 
haviour for six months. A decision infinitely more 
wise than hanging or drowning. They had each of 
them husbands, and Losse Cock served as interpreter 
for Mrs. Mattson. The whole of this trial may be seen 
in detail in my MS. Annals, page 506, in the Historical 
Society. 

By this judicious verdict, we, as Pennsylvanians, have 
probably escaped the odium of Salem. Tt is not, how- 
ever, to be concealed, that we had a law standing 
against witches ; and it may possibly exonerate us in 
part, and give some plea for the trial itself, to say it 



OF OLDEN TIME. 143 

was from a precedent by statute of King James I. 
That act was held to be part of our law by an act of 
our provincial assembly, entitled, " An act against con- 
juration, witchcraft, and dealing with evil and wicked 
spirits." It says therein, that the act of King James I. 
shall be put in execution in this province, and be of 
like force and effect as if the same were here repeated 
and enacted. So solemnly and gravely sanctioned as 
was that act of the king, what could we as colonists do ? 
Our act as above was confirmed in all its parts, by the 
dignified council of George II. in the next year after its 
passage here, in the presence of eighteen peers, includ- 
ing the great duke of Marlborough himself!* 

An old record of the province, of 1695, states the 
case of Robert Reman, presented at Chester for prac- 
tising geomanty, and divining by a stick. The grand 
jury also presented the following books, as vicious, to 
wit : Hidson's Temple of Wisdom, which teaches geo- 
manty ; Stott's Discovery of Witchcraft, and Cornelius 
Agrippa's Teaching Negromancy — another name, pro- 
bably, for necromancy. The latter latinized name 
forcibly reminds one of those curious similar books of 
great value, (even of fifty thousand pieces of silver,) 
destroyed before Paul at Ephesus — '' multi autum curi- 
osa agentium, conferentes libros combusserunt coram 
omnibus." 

* Nor was the dread of witchcraft an English failing only. 
We may find enough of it in France also ; for six hundred per- 
sons were executed there for that alleged crime in 1609. In 
1634, Grandiere, a priest of Loudun, was burnt for bewitching 
a whole convent of nuns. In 1654, twenty women were executed 
in Bretagne for their witcheries ! 



144 HISTORIC TALES 

Superstition has been called the '' seminal principle 
of religion," because it undoubtedly has its origin in 
the dread of a spiritual world, of which God is the su- 
preme. The more vague and undefined our thoughts 
about these metaphysical mysteries, the more our minds 
are disposed to the legends of the nursery. As the 
man who walks in the dark, not seeing nor knowing his 
way, must feel increase of fear at possible dangers he 
cannot define ; so he who goes abroad in the broad 
light of day proceeds fearlessly, because he sees and 
knows as harmless all the objects which surround him. 
Wherefore we infer, that if we have less terror of ima- 
gination now, it is ascribable to our superior light and 
general diffusion of intelligence, thereby setting the 
mind at rest in many of these things. In the mean 
time, there is a class who will cherish their own dis- 
tresses. They intend religious dread, but from miscon- 
ceptions of its real beneficence and " good will to 
men," they 

" Draw a wrong copy of the Christian face, 
Without the smile, the sweetness, or the grace." 

An idea was once very prevalent, especially near to 
the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, that the pirates of 
Blackboard's day had deposited treasure in the earth. 
The conceit was, that sometimes they killed a prisoner, 
and interred him with it, to make his ghost keep his 
vigils there, as a guard " walking his weary round." 
Hence it was not rare to hear of persons having seen a 
shpook, or ghost, or of having dreamed of it a plurality 
of times ; thus creating a suflicient incentive to dig on 
the spot. 



OF OLDEN TIME. 145 

-Dream after dream ensues ; 



And still they dream that they shall still succeed, 
And still are disappointed !" 

To procure the aid of a professor in the black art, 
was called hexing ; and Shrunk, in particular, had great 
fame therein. He affected to use a diviner's rod, (a 
hazel switch,) with a peculiar angle in it, which was to 
be self turned while held in the two hands, when ap- 
proached to any sub-terrene minerals. Some still use 
the same kind of hazel rods to feel for hidden waters, 
so as thereby to dig in right places for wells. 

Timothy Matlack, Esq., ninety-five years of age, a 
close observer of passing events in his youth, has as- 
sured me there was much more of superstition preva- 
lent in olden time than now ; wherefore, fortune telling, 
conjuration, and money digging, were frequent in his 
youth. He declared it was a fact, before his time, that 
a young man, a stranger of decent appearance from the 
south, (the rogues lived there in the ancient days, in 
the transport colonies of Maryland and Virginia,) gave 
out he was sold to the devil ; and that, unless the price 
was raised for his redemption by the pious, he would 
be borne off at midday by the purchaser in person. 
He took his lodgings at the inn in Laetitia court, and at 
the eventful day he was surrounded, and the house too, 
by the people, among whom were several clergymen. 
Prayers and pious services of worship were performed, 
and as the moment approached for execution, when all 
were on tiptoe, some expecting the verification, and 
several discrediting it, a murmur laii through the crowd 
of, " there he comes! he comes I" This instantly gene- 
rated a terrible panic — all fled, from fear, or from the 
13 



146 HISTORIC TALES 

rush of the crowd. When their fears a little subsided, 
and a calmer inquisition ensued, sure enough, the 
young man was actually gone, money and all I I should 
have stated, that the money was collected to pay the 
price ; and it lay upon the table in the event of the 
demand. Mr. Matlack assured me he fully believed 
these transactions occurred. The story was as popu- 
lar a tale as the story of the " Paxtang boys." 

In confirmation, he told me a fact which he witnessed. 
Michael H — —, Esq. well known in public life, who 
lived in Second street above Arch street, gave out (in 
a mental delirium it is hoped) that he had sold himself 
to the devil, and would be carried away at a certain 
time. At that time crowds actually assembled near 
the premises to witness the denouement and catastrophe. 
There must have been truth in this relation, because I 
now see by the Gazette of 1749, a public notice of this 
pubHc gathering as an offensive act to the family ; I see 
that M. H. is vindicated from some malicious reports, 
which said he was distracted, &c. and witnesses appear 
before Judge Allen, and testify that he was then sane, 
&-C. It was certainly on every side a strange affair. 

Something like this subject occurred when I was a 
child. I remember very well to have been taken to a 
house on the south side of Race street, a few doors 
east of Second street, vvhere was a black man who was 
stated to have sold himself to the devil, and to have 
come from Delaware or Maryland peninsula, by the aid 
of the pious in Philadelphia, to procure his ransom or 
exemption. I can never forget his piteous and dejected 
countenance, as 1 saw him, in the midst of praying 
people, working fervently at his exorcism in an up- 



OP OLDEN TIME. 



147 



Stairs chamber. I heard him say he had signed an in- 
strument of writing with his own blood. It was pro- 
bably at black Allen's house, as he was among the 
praying ones. My mother told me since, that hundreds 
went to see him. Among these were the Rev. Dr. 
Pilmore, who finally took him to his own house, where 
at last, I understood, he concluded from his habits that 
his greatest calamity was laziness. I conclude he es- 
caped translation, as I never heard of that. 

Several aged persons have occasionally pointed out 
to me the places where persons, to their knowledge, 
had dug for pirates' money. The small hill once on 
the north side of Coates's street, near to Front street, 
was well remembered by John Brown, as having been 
much dug. Colonel A. J. Morris, now in his 90th 
year, has told me, that in his early days very much was 
said of Blackboard and the pirates, both by young and 
old. Tales were frequently current, that this and that 
person had heard of some of his discovered treasure. 
Persons in the city were named as having profited by 
his depredations. But he thought those things were 
not true. T. Matlack, Esq. told me he was once shown 
an oak tree, at the south end of Front street, which was 
marked KLP, at the foot of which was found a large 
sum of money. The stone which covered the treasure 
he saw at the door of the alleged finder, who said his 
ancestor was directed to it by a sailor in the hospital in 
England. He told me, too, that when his grandfather 
Burr died, they opened a chest which had been left by 
four sailors " for a day or two," full twenty years 
before, which was found full of decayed silk goods. 
Samuel Richards and B. Graves confirmed to me what 



J48 



HISTORIC TALES 



1 had heard elsewhere, that at the sign of the Cock in 
Spruce street, about thirty-five years ago, there was 
found in a pot in the cellar a sum of money of about 
5000 dollars. The Cock inn was an old two story 
frame house which stood on the site of the present east- 
ernmost house of B. Graves's row. A Mrs. Green 
owned and lived in the Cock inn forty to fifty years ago, 
and had sold it to Pegan, who found the money in at- 
tempting to deepen the cellar. It became a question 
to whom the money belonged, which it seems was readi- 
ly settled between Mrs. Green and Pegan, on the pre- 
text that Mrs. Green's husband had put it there ! But 
it must appear sufliciently improbable that Mrs. Green 
should have left such a treasure on the premises, if she 
really knew of it when she sold the house. The greater 
probability is, that neither of them had any conception 
how it got there ; and they mutually agreed to support 
the story, so as to hush any ether or more imposing 
enquiries. They admitted they found 5000 dollars. It 
is quite as probable a story that the pirates had de- 
posited it there before the location of the city. It was 
of course on the margin of the natural harbour once 
formed there for vessels. In digging the cellar of the 
old house at the northeast corner of Second street and 
Gray's alley, they discovered a pot of money there; 
also some lately at Frankford creek. 

As late as the year 1792, the ship carpenters formed 
a party to dig for pirates' money on the Cohocksink 
creek, northwest of the causeway, under a large tree. 
They got frightened off. And it came out afterwards, 
that a waggish neighbour had enacted diahulus to their 
discomfiture. 



OF OLDEN TIME. 149 



SPORTS AND AMUSEMENTS. 



" We, shifting for relief, would play the shapes 
Of frolic fancy — call laughter forth. 
Deep-shaking every nerve" 

It may help our conceptions of the olden time to be 
led into an acquaintance with the nature of their sports 
and amusements ; to this end, the following facts may 
be contemplated with some advantage, to wit : 

The dances of the polite part of society were formal 
minuets. Country or centre dances, although under- 
stood, were of rarer occurrence. Hipsesaws and jigs 
were the common dances of the commonalty. It was 
long before dancing was encouraged in Philadelphia 
sufficiently to present a school for a dancing master. 
The aged Mrs. Shoemaker told me she supposed the 
first dancing master ever named in Philadelphia, was 
one Bolton, who taught about seventy-five years ago. 
In the year 1730, Mrs. Ball, in Lsetitia court, adver- 
tises her school for French, playing on the spinet, and 
dancing, <fec. When Whitfield laboured in Philadel- 
phia, in 1739, such was the religious excitement of the 
time, that the dancing school, the assembly and concert 
room were shut up, as inconsistent with the gospel. 
This was opj)osed by some others ; so far so, that some 
of the gentlemen concerned broke open the doors, but 
no company went to the assembly room. 

In later time, however, the dancing assembly among 
the gentry had high vogue, partaking, before the revolu- 
13* 



150 HISTORIC TALES 

tion, of the aristocratic feelings of a monarchical go- 
vernment — excluding the families of mechanics, however 
wealthy. The subscription was three pounds fifteen 
shillings, admitting no gentleman under twenty-one 
years, nor lady under eighteen years. The supper con- 
sisted of tea, chocolate, and rusk — a simple cake, now 
never seen amidst the profusion of French confection- 
ary. For then we had no spice of French in our insti- 
tutions, and consequently did not know how to romp in 
cotillions, but moved with measured dignity in grave 
minuets or gayer country dances. Every thing was 
conducted by rule of six married managers, who dis- 
tributed places by lot; and partners were engaged for 
the evening^ — leaving nothing to the success of forward- 
ness or favouritism. Gentlemen always drank lea 
with their partners the day after the assembly — a sure 
means of producing a more lasting acquaintance, if 
mutually desirable. 

Fox hunting formerly formed the field exercise of some 
of our wealthy citizens, within the memory of several of 
the aged whom I have conversed with. There was a 
kennel of hounds kept by one Butler, for the company. 
It was situated then as out of town, but in a place now 
populous enough — say on the brow of the hill north of 
Callowhill street, descending to Pegg's run, and at 
about sixty feet westward of Second street. Butler 
himself dwelt in the low brick house adjoining the 
northwest corner of Callowhill street on Second street. 
As population increased, their game decreased ; so 
much so, that the establishment had to remove over to 
Gloucester, so as to make their hunts in the Jersey 
pines. At the same time, the company provided for 



OF OLDEN TIME. 151 

their old huntsman, Butler, by setting him up, in the 
year 1766, with the first public stage for New York. 
Old Captain Samuel Morris, dead about 20 years ago, 
was for many years the life and head of the club. I 
well remember to have seen the voracious and clamor- 
ous hounds in their kennel near Gloucester ferry. 

Horse races appear lo have been of very early intro- 
duction, and bringing with them the usual evils, hard to 
be controlled. They were, at an early period, per- 
formed out " Race street," so popularly called because 
of its being the street directly leading out to the race 
ground, cleared out for the purpose, through the forest 
trees, still long remaining there. 

The present very aged T. Matlack, Esq. was passion- 
ately fond of races in his youth. He told me of his re- 
membrances out Race street. In his early days the 
woods were in commons, having several straggling 
forest trees still remaining there, and the circular 
course ranging through those trees. He said all gen- 
teel horses were pacers. A trotting horse was deemed 
a base breed ! All these Race street races were mostly 
pace races. His father and others kept pacing studs 
for propagating the breed. 

Thomas Bradford, Esq., telling me of his recollec- 
tions of the races, says he was told that the earliest 
races were scrub and pace races, on the ground now 
used as Race street. But in his younger days (he is 
now past 80) they were run in a circular form on a 
ground from Arch or Race street down to Spruce street, 
and from Eighth street of Delaware to Schuylkill river, 
making thus two miles for a heal. About the same 



1 52 HISTOBIC TALES 

time they also run straight races of one mile, from 
Centre Square to Schuylkill, out High street. 

At the Centre Square the races used to be continued 
till the time of the war of 1775. None occurred after- 
wards there : and after the peace, they were made un- 
lawful. 

The first equestrian feats performed in Philadelphia, 
was in 1771, by Faulks ; he executed all his wonders 
alone, himself riding from one to three horses at a time. 

Bull-baiting and cock-fighting were much counte- 
nanced. The present aged and respectable T. M. had 
once a great passion for the latter, so that some wags 
sometimes called him Tim Gaff; thereby affecting to 
slur a latin signature which he sometimes assumed as a 
political writer, of which T. G. were the initials of his 
two latin words. 

They used to have a play at the time of the fairs, 
called '' throwing at the joke." A leather cylinder, 
not unlike a high candlestick, was placed on the ground 
over a hole. The adventurers placed their coppers on 
the topof tlie joke, then retired to a distance and tossed 
a stick at it so as to knock the whole down. The pen- 
nies which fell in the pot were to belong to the thrower, 
those which fell out, to the owner of the joke. The 
leather was pliable and was easily bent to let the pen- 
nies drop. They played also at the h'xrs the wheel of 
fortune, nine holes, &lc. 

In former days the streets were much filled with boys 
" skying a copper," a play to toss up pennies and guess 
heads or tails ; " pitch-penny" too, was frequent, to 
pitch at a white mark on the ground ; they pitched also 



OF OLDEN TIME. 153 

"chuckers," a kind of pewter pennies cast by the boys 
themselves. All these plays have been banished from 
our city walks by the increased pavements, and still 
more by the multitudes of walkers who disturb such 
plays. 

The game for shooters much more abounded before 
the Revolution than since. Fishing and fowling were 
once subjects of great recreation and success. Wild 
pigeons used to be innumerable, so also blackbirds, reed- 
birds, and squirrels. As late as the year 1720 an act 
was passed, fining five shillings for shooting pigeons, 
doves, or partridges, or other fowl, (birds,) in the streets 
of Philadelphia, or the gardens or orchards adjoining 
any houses within the said city ! In Penn's woods, west- 
ward of Broad street, used to be excellent pigeon 
shooting. 

The skaters of Philadelphia have long been pre- 
eminent. Graydon, in his memoirs, has stated his rea- 
sons for thinking his countrymen are the most expert 
and graceful in the world ; quite surpassing the Dutch 
and English. He thinks them also the best swimmers 
to be found in the civilised world. 

Mr. George Tyson, a broker of Philadelphia, weigh- 
ing 180 to 190 pounds, is the greatest swimmer (save a 
companion, who swims with him,) we have ever had, 
not excepting Doctor Franklin himself He and that 
companion have swum from Philadelphia to Fort 
Mifllin and back, without ever resting, save a little 
while floating off the fort to see it. He says he never 
tires with swimming, and that he can float in perfect 
stillness, with his arms folded, by the hour. He deems 
his sensations at that time delightful. He went across 



154 HISTORIC TALES 

the Delaware, drawn by a paper kite in the air. He 
is short and fat ; his fat and flesh aid his specific light- 
ness, no doubt, in the water, and cause him readily to 
swim high out of the water. 

During the oldfashioned winters, when, about New 
Year's day, every one expected to see or hear of an 
" Ox Roast" on the Delaware, upon the thick ribbed 
ice, which, would crack and rend itself by its own 
weight, without separating, in sounds like thunder, 
among the then multitudinous throng of promenaders, 
sliders and skaters, visible from the wharves daily, for 
weeks together, as far as the eye could reach, in black 
groups and long serpentine lines of pedestrians, to and 
from the shores, to the island, and different ferries in 
Jersey — of the very many varieties of skaters of all 
colours and sizes mingled together, and darting about 
here and there, " upward and downward, mingled and 
convolved," a few were at all times discernible as be- 
ing decidedly superior to the rest for dexterity, power, 
and grace ; namely, William Tharpe, Doctor Foulke, 
Governor Mifflin, C. W. Peale, George Heyl, '' Joe" 
Claypoole, and some others, not forgetting, by the way, 
a black Othello, who, from his apparent muscle and 
powerful movement, might have sprung, as did the noble 
Moor, from " men of royal siege." In swiftness he had 
no competitor ; he outstripped the wind ; the play of his 
elbows in alternate movement with his " low gutter" 
skates, while darting forward and uttering occasionally 
a wild scream peculiar to the African race while in 
active exertion of body, was very imposing in appearance 
and effect. Of the gentlemen skaters before enumerated, 
and others held in general admiration by all, George 



OP OLDEN TIME. 156 

Heyl took the lead in graceful skating, and in superior 
dexterity in cutting figures and *' High Dutch" within a 
limited space of smooth ice. On a large field of glass, 
among others he might be seen moving about elegantly 
and at perfect ease, in curve lines, with folded arms, 
being dressed in red coat (as was the fashion) and buck- 
skin " tights," his bright broad skates in an occasional 
round turn flashing upon the eye; then again to be pur- 
sued by others, he might be seen suddenly changing to 
the back and heel forward movement, offering them his 
hand, and at the same time eluding their grasp by his 
dexterous and instantaneous deviations to the right and 
left, leaving them to their hard work of '* striking out" 
after him with all their might and main. 

The next very best skater, and at the same time (he 
most noted surgeon of the day, was Doctor Foulke, in 
Front street, opposite Elfrelh's alley. Skating *♦ High 
Dutch," and being able to cut the letters of his own 
name at one flourish, constituted the doctor's fame as a 
skater. In the way of business, the doctor was off- 
hand, and quick in his speech and manner, but gentle- 
manly withal. 

C. W. Peale, as a skater, was only remarkable for 
using a remarkable pair of '' gutter skates," with a re- 
markable prong, capped and curvGid backwards, with 
which he moved leisurely about in curved lines. They 
looked as though they might have been brought to him 
from somewhere about the German ocean, as a subject 
for his Museum. 

'' May days" were much more regarded formerly than 
now. All young people went out into the country on 
foot, to walk and gather flowers. The lads too, when 



156 HISTORIC TALES 

the woods abounded, would put up as many as fifty 
poles of their own cutting, procured by them wiihout 
any fear of molestation. 

The " Belsh Nichel" and St. Nicholas has been a 
time of Christmas amusement from time immemorial 
among us ; brought in, it is supposed, among the sport- 
ive frolics of the Germans. It is the same also ob- 
served in New York under the Dutch name of St. Claes. 
" Belsh Nichel," in high German, expresses " Nicholas 
in his fur" or sheep-skin clothing. He is always sup- 
posed to bring good things at night to good children, 
and a rod for those who are bad. Every father in his 
turn remembers the excitements of his youth in Belsh- 
nichel and Christ-kinkle nights, and his amusement 
also when a father, at seeing how his own children ex- 
pressed their feelings on their expectations of gifts from 
the mysterious visiter ! The following fine poetry upon 
the subject must gratify the reader : 

It was the night before Christinas, when all through the house 

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; 

When what in the air, to my eyes should appear, 

But a miniature sleigli and eight tiny reindeer ; 

With a little old driver so lively and quick, 

I knew in a moment, it must be Saint Nick ! 

Soon, on to the house top, his coursers, they flew. 

With the sleigh full of toys and Saint Nicholas too ; 

As I roU'd on my bed and was turning around, 

Down the chimney Saint Nicholas came with a bound ! 

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot, 

And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot ; 

The stump of a pipe lie held fast in his teeth. 

And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath. 

He had a broad face and a little round belly. 

That shook when he laughed, like a bowl-ful of jelly. 



OF OLDEN TIME. 157 

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work : 
Soon filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk ; 
And laying his finger aside of his nose, 
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose. 
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, 
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle ; 
And I heard him exclaim, exe he drove out of sight, 
" Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night." 

In my youthful days it was a great sport with the 
boys to sled down hills in the city, on the snow in 
winter. Since the population and the wheel carriages 
have increased, the danger of being run over more than 
formerly, and the rarity of the snow, has made boys 
leave it off for some years. Thirty to forty boys and 
sleds could be seen running down each of the streets 
descending from Front street to the river. There was 
also much sledding down the streets and hills descend- 
ing to Pegg's run. 

The boys at Friends' school, in south Fourth street, 
were formerly (although gravely disciplined) as mis- 
chievous and sportive as others. Some still alive may 
be amused to be reminded of their puerilities, when 
they were taught by Jonah Thompson, who was a man 
of good military port and aspect, accustomed to walk 
at the head of his corps of scholars to week-day meet- 
ings, in a long line of " two and two." On such occa- 
sions the town was surprised to see them so marching 
with wooden guns, (a kind of received Quaker emblem) 
and having withal a little flag ! These they had succeed- 
ed to take up as they walked out of school without the 
knowledge of their chieftain, who had preceded them 
without deigning to look back on their array. On ano- 
ther occasion when Robert Proud, the historian, was 
14 



1 58 HISTORIC TALES 

their teacher, and was remarkable for retaining his large 
bush-wig, long after others had disused them, they bored 
a hole through the ceiling over his sitting place, and by 
suspending a pin-hook to a cord, so attached it to his 
wig as to draw it up, leaving it suspended as if depend- 
ing from the ceiling. At another time they combined 
at night to take to pieces a country wagon, which they 
lifted on to a chimney wall then building, there replacing 
the wheels, awning, dec. to the astonishment of the 
owner and the diversion of the populace. Some of 
those urchins lived, notwithstanding their misapplied 
talents and ingenuity, to make very grave and exemplary 
members of society. Youth is the season of levity and 
mirth, and although we must chide its wanton aberra- 
tions, we may yet feel sensations of indulgence, knowing 
what we ourselves have been, and to what they, with 
ourselves, must come, 

" When cherish'd fancies one by one 
Shall slowly fade from day to day ; — 
And then from weary sun to sun 
They will not have the heart to play I" 

The time was when the *' uptown" and " downtown 
boys" were rival clans, as well understood in the city 
precincts as the bigger clans of feds and anti-feds. They 
used to have, according to the streets, their regular 
night battles with sticks and stones, making the panes 
of glass to jingle occasionally. But the appearance of 
'^ old Carlisle" and the famous West (the constable) 
would scatter them into all the hiding-places ; peeping 
out from holes and corners when the coast was clear. 
Those from the south of Chesnut street were frequently 
headed by oiiQ whose naval exploits, since that time, in 



OF OLDEN TIME. 



159 



the Mediterranean and on the Atlantic have secured to 
him imperishable fame ; also by his faithful friend and 
ardent admirer, well known since throughout the com- 
munity for his suavity and exquisitely polished manners. 
They were the Achilles and the Patroclus of the " down- 
towners." 

The Northern Liberties about Camptown and Pegg's 
run used to be in agitation almost every Saturday night, 
by the regular clans of " rough and tumble" fighting, 
between the ship-carpenters from Kensington, and the 
butchers from Spring Garden ; the public authority not 
even attempting to hinder them, as it was deemed an 
affair out of town. 

All this spirit of rivalry and fighting was the product 
of the war of independence. Their ears, as boys, were 
filled with the echoes of battles lost or won. They felt 
their buoyant spirits inspired with martial ardour too, 
and having no real euemies to encounter, they invented 
them for the occasion. In this way the academy boys 
were accoutred as young soldiers, and they much piqued 
themselves as the rivals of another class of schoolboys. 
Each had their oflicers, and all of them some emblems 
a la militaire, all aspiring to the marks and influence of 
manhood ; burning to get through their minority, and 
to take their chances in the world before them. 

" Then passions wild and dark and strong. 
And hopes and powers and feelings high, 
Ere manhood's thoughts, a rushing throng, 
Shall sink the cheek and dim the eye !" 



160 HISTORIC TALES 



EDUCATION. 



" Thus form tlie mind by use of alphabetic signs." 

It is greatly to the credit of our forefathers, that they 
showed an early and continued regard to the education 
of their posterity. They were men of too much prac- 
tical wisdom not to foresee the abiding advantages of 
proper instruction to the rising generation. What they 
aimed to impart was solid and substantial. If it in 
general bore the plain appellation of " reading, writing 
and arithmetic" only, it gave these so effectively as to 
make many of their pupils persons of first rate conse- 
quence and wisdom in the early annals of our country. 
With such gifts in their possession, many of them were 
enabled to become their self-instructers in numerous 
branches of science and belles lettres studies. All these 
came as matter of course, by readings at home, when 
the mind was matured and the school acquirements 
were finished. They then learned to read on purpose 
to be able to pursue such branches of enquiry for them- 
selves. They thus acquired, when the mind was old 
enough fondly to enlist in the enquiry, all they read " by 
heart," because, as it was mental treasure of their own 
seeking and attainment, it was valued in the affection. 
They therefore did not perplex their youtl) by " getting" 
lessons by head or dint of memory ; of mere facts, for- 
ootten as fast as learned, because above the capacity of 
the youthful mind to appreciate and keep for future ser- 



OF OLDEN TIME. 161 

vice. All they taught was practical ; and, so far as it 
went, every lesson was efficient and good. 

It is gratifying to add that the mass of our forefathers 
were also an instructed and reading community. A 
letter of Mr. Jefferson's, of the year 1785, well sustains 
this assertion, saying, " In science the mass of the people 
in Europe is two centuries behind ours ; their literati is 
half a dozen years before us. Books, really good, ac- 
quire just reputation in that time, and so become known 
to us. In the mean time, we are out of reach of that 
swarm of nonsense which issues from a thousand presses 
and perishes almost in issuing." But since then solid 
reading is less sought after ; " the press must be kept 
going," even as abroad. The ephemera of England 
flutter across the ocean and breathe once more a short 
lived existence ere they finally perish. 

As early as 1683, Enoch Flower opened the first 
English school. The prices were moderate ; to read 
English four shillings, to write six shillings, and to read, 
write, and cast accounts, eight shillings, and for teaching 
lodging and diet £lO. per annum. A curious auto- 
graph letter from his ancestors, is preserved in my MS. 
Annals, page 334, in the Historical Society. 

In 1689, the Friends originated the Friends' public 
school in Philadelphia, the same which now stands in 
Fourth below Chestnut street. It was to be a grammar 
school, and to teach the learned languages. George 
Keith, a Scotch Friend and public preacher, (afterwards 
an Episcopal clergyman and a bitter foe to Friends !) 
became the first teacher, assisted by Thomas Makin, 
who in the next year became the principal. This Makin 
was called ** a good latinist ;" we have the remains of 
14* 



62 



HISTORIC TALES 



his ability in that way in his long latin poem " descrip- 
tive of Pennsylvania in 1729." His life was simple, 
and probably fettered by the " res angusti domi ;" for 
his death occurred, in 1733, in a manner indicative of 
his pains-taking domestic concerns. In the Mercury of 
November, 1733, it is thus announced : '• Last Tuesday 
night Mr. Thomas Makin, a very ancient man, who for 
many years was a schoolmaster in this city, stooping 
over a wharf end to get a pail of water, unhappily fell in 
and was drowned." He appears to have passed Meet- 
ing with Sarah Rich in 1700, the same year in which 
he became principal to the academy or school. During 
the same time he served as the clerk of the assembly. 

At this early period of time, so much had the little 
Lewistown at our southern cape the pre-eminence in 
female tuition, that Thomas Lloyd, the deputy governor, 
preferred to send his younger daughters from Philadel- 
phia to that place to finish their education. 

Our first most distinguished seminaries of learning 
began in the country before the academy in Philadel- 
phia was instituted. The Rev. William Tennent, who 
came from Leland, arrived at New York in 1718, and 
in 1721 removed to Bensalem in Bucks county ; soon 
after he settled in a Presbyterian church, of small con- 
sideration, at ''the forks of Neshamina," ^(he had been 
ordained a churchman) where he opened a school for 
teaching the languages, «fec. There he formed many 
of the youth of early renown. From its celebrity 
among us, it received the popular name of the " Log 
College." He died in 1743, and was buried there. 
His four sons all became clergymen, well known to 
most readers, especially his sons Gilbert and William ; 



OF OLDEN TIME. 163 

the former was remarkable for his ardour in Whitfield's 
cause, and the schism he formed in the first Presbyterian 
church in Philadelphia, which led to the secession and 
the building of the church on the northwest corner of 
Third and Arch streets. 

In connection with this subject we are to introduce 
the name of James Logan, Esq., already so favourably 
known to the public as the patron of learning, in his 
valuable gift of our public library. As early as 1728 
we find him the patron and endower of this "Log Col- 
lege ;" for, he then bestows fifty acres of his land there 
to the above named Rev. William Tennent, his cousin 
by his mother's side ; this to encourage him to prosecute 
his views and make his residence near us permanent. 
The early fare of Mr. Tennent accorded with the rude 
materials of his house and school ; for, it appears from 
the correspondence of James Logan, that he was 
obliged to procure and send him provisions, at his first 
settlement, from Philadelphia. Such was the proper 
alma mater of the chief scholars of that early day. 

The next school of pre-eminence was that of the 
Rev. Francis Allison, another Irishman, who came to 
this country in 1735, and in 1741 opened his school at 
New London, in Chester county, where he taught the 
languages, &c. Several clergymen, of subsequent re- 
putation, were educated there. He was zealous and 
benevolent ; and educated some young ministers gra- 
tuitously. At one time he resided at Thunder Hill in 
Maryland, and there educated such men as Charles 
Thomson, George Reed, Thomas M'Kean, &;c.; men 
who were remarkable in our revolutionary struggle for 
their abilities and attachment to the cause of their 



164 HISTORIC TALES 

country. In later life, Mr. Allison became the provost 
of the college of Philadelphia, and was, when there, 
accustomed to assist his pupil Doctor Ewing, the pastor 
of the first Presbyterian church in High street, in occa- 
sionally serving his pulpit. He died in 1777, " full of 
honours and full of years." 

In 1750, about the time that the Philadelphia acade- 
my and college began to excite public interest and at- 
tention, the city council expressed some sense of the 
subject on their minutes, to wit : A committee report 
on the advantages to be gained by the erection of an 
academy and public school, saying, " the youth would 
receive a good education at home, and be also under 
the eye of their friends ; it would tend to raise able 
magistrates, &c. It would raise schoolmasters from 
among the poorer class, to be qualified to serve as such 
in the country, under recommendation from the academy, 
and thus prevent the employment of unknown charac- 
ters, who often prove to be vicious imported servants, 
or concealed papists ; often corrupting the morals of 
the children." Upon the reading of this report, the 
board decided, unanimously, to present the trustees to- 
wards such a sdiool £200 ; also £50 per annum to 
charity schools, for the next five years ; also £50 per 
annum, for five years, for the right of sending one 
scholar yearly from the charity school to be taught in 
all the branches of learning taught in said academy. 

The city academy, began in 1 750, under the exertions 
and auspices of Doctor Franklin, was originally built 
for Whitfield's meetinghouse in 1741; the academy 
started with a subscription sum of £2600. In 1753, 
it was created " a college," and in 1779, " the univer- 



OF OLDEN TIME, 165 

sity." For further facts concerning " the academy," 
see that article. 

In 1770, a Mr. Griscom advertises his private acade- 
my, " free from the noise of the city," at the north end. 
It may surprise some to learn that this was a long stone 
building on Front and Water streets, a little above Vine 
street, being two stories high on Front street, and three 
stories on Water street, once beautifully situated, when 
no population was crowded near it, and having a full 
and open view to the river ; it afterwards stood a deso- 
late neglected looking building, filled with numerous 
poor tenantry, until a few years ago, bearing with its 
inmates the name of " the College," although they had 
long lost the cause of such a name. 

This Mr. Griscom may be regarded as the first in- 
dividual among us who ventured to assume the title of 
" academy" to any private institution. The simple, 
unassuming appellation of " school" was the universal 
name till about the year 1796 ; after that time " acade- 
mies," " seminaries," '^ lyceums," " institutes," «fec. 
were perpetually springing up in every quarter among 
us. Before those days " ladies' academies and misses' 
boarding schools" were unknown ; boys and girls were 
accustomed to go to the same schools. 

Mr. Horton first started the idea of a separate school 
for girls, and with it the idea of instructing them in 
grammar and other learning ; and about the year 1795, 
Poor's academy for young ladies," in Cherry street, 
became a place of proud distinction to " finished" fe- 
males ; and their annual " commencement day" and 
exhibition in the great churches was an affair of great 
interest and street parade. 



166 



HISTORIC TALES 

THE OLD COURT HOUSE. 

[illustrated by a plate.] 

This venerable building, long divested of its original 
honours by being appropriated during the years of the 
present generation to the humble purposes of offices 
and lumber rooms for city watchmen and clerks of the 
markets, &c., had long been regarded by many as a 
rude and undistinguished edifice. 

But this structure, diminutive and ignoble as it may 
now appear to our modern conceptions, was the chef 
d'muvre and largest endeavour of our pilgrim fathers. 
Assessments, gifts, and fines, were all combined to give 
it the amphtude of the " Great Town House," or '' Guild 
Hall," as it was occasionally at first called. In the then 
general surrounding waste, (having a duck pond on its 
northern aspect,) it was deemed no ill-graced intrusion 
to place it in the middle of the intended unencumbered 
and wide street ;— an exception, however, to which it 
became in early days exposed, by pamphlets, pasquin- 
ades, &c. eliciting on one occasion " the second (an- 
gry) address of Andrew Marvell," &c. 

Before its erection, in 1707, its place was the honour- 
ed site of the great town bell, erected upon a mast, 
whence royal and provincial proclamations, &c. were 
announced. That bell, now the centenary incumbent 
of the cupola, could it rehearse its former doings, might, 
to our ears, " a tale unfold," of times and incidents by- 
gone, which might wonder-strike our citizens. 



! p |T^ 








<^ 






OF OLDEN TIME. 167 

'T would tell of things so old, "that history's pages 
Contain no records of its early ages !" 

Among the relics which I have preserved of this 
building, is a picturesque view, as it stood in primitive 
times, having a pillory, prison cage, &c. on its eastern 
side, and the " great meeting house" of Friends on th^' 
south, secluded within its brick wall enclosure, on gr^^^nd 
bestowed by the Founder " for truth's and fiends' 
sake." I have, too, an original MS. papp' g^^^ng »" 
detail the whole expenses of the structur' ^"^ ^^^ pay- 
ments, " by the penny tax," received^*' ^^® same, and 
showing, in that day , a loss of " old r'»"e"cy" of one third, 

to reduce it to new,— and wit>-^ presenting a curious 
exhibit of the prices of ma'^rials and labour in that 
early day— such as brir'^^ ^t 29^. 6d. per m., and 
bricklaying at 145. per ^^-^ making, in all, an expense of 
6161, Samuel Pow^i' who acquired so much wealth 
by city property, ^-^s the carpenter. 

The window -casements were originally constructed 
with little pap^s set in leaden frames ; and the base- 
ment story, set on arches, had one corner for an auc- 
tion roo;n, and the remainder was occupied by the 
millers and their meal, and by the linen and stocking 
makers -^'o™ Germantown. Without the walls, on the 
western side, stood some moveable shambles, until su- 
perseded, in 1 720, by a short brick market house. 

We have long since transferred our affections and 
notices to its successor, (the now celebrated " Hall of 
Independence," i. e. our present State house,) now 
about to revive its fame under very cheering auspices ; 
but, this town house was once the national hall of legis- 



168 



HISTORIC TALES 



lalion and legal learning. In its chambers sat our co- 
lonial assemblies ; there they strove nobly and often for 
the public weal ; opposing themselves against the royal 
prerogatives of the governors : and though often de- 
feated in their enactments by royal vetos or the board 
of trade, returning to their efforts under new forms and 
^tles of enactment, till they worried kingly or pro- 
prii>ary power into acquiescence or acknowledgment. 
WithUi those walls were early cherished those princi- 
ples ol civi liberty, which, when matured, manifested 
themselves ii. ^^^ f^u gpij-jt Qf Q^r national indepen- 
dence. Here i^.^jd Lloyd and Sir William Keith agi- 
tated the assemblic ^g leaders of the opposition, com- 
bining and plotting w,|^ ^^^^^^ colleagues, and forming 
cabals that were not for i.^ ^^^^^ ^f ^h^ ^^^^^^ ,,or ^^ 
the proprietaries. Here Is^^. ^^rris was almost per- 
petually president, being, for xig popularity and excel- 
lence, as necessary an append^g of colonial enact- 
ments as was the celebrated Abri*^ Newland to the 
paper currency of England. Here cav^g the governors 
in state to make their " speeches." On home occasions 
they prepared here great feasts to perpetuate and ho- 
nour such rulers, making the tables, on which they 
sometimes placed their own squibs and plans of discord 
become the festive board of jocund glee and happ-j union. 
From the balcony in front, the newly arrived oi in- 
stalled governors made their addresses to the cheering 
populace below. On the steps, depending formerly 
from the balcony on either side, tustled and worried 
the fretted electors ; ascending by one side to give in 
their votes at the door of the balcony, and thence de- 
scending southward on the opposite side. On the ad- 



OF OLDEN TIME. 169 

jacent ground occurred "• the bloody election" of 1742 
— a time, when the sailors, coopers, &c. combined to 
carry their candidates by exercise of oaken clubs, to the 
great terror and scandal of the good citizens — when 
some said Judge Allen set them on, and others that 
they were instigated by young Emlen ; but the point 
was gained — to drive " the Norris partisans" from " the 
stairs," where, as they alleged, they "for years kept 
the place," to the exclusion of other voters. I have in 
my possession several caricatures, intended to traduce 
and stigmatise the leaders in those days. Two of them, 
of about the year 1765, give the election groups at the 
stairs and in the street ; and appended to the grotesque 
pictures, pro and con, are many verses : — One is called, 
" the Election Medley and Squire Lilliput," and the 
other is, '< the Counter Medley and Answer to the 
Dunces." In these we see many of the ancestors of 
present respectable families, portrayed in ludicrous and 
lampooned characters. Now the combatants all rest 
in peace ; and if the scandal was revived, it would be 
much more likely to amuse than to offend the families 
interested. Then arrests, indictments, and trials ensued 
for the inglorious " riot," which kept " the fowne" in 
perpetual agitation. A still greater but more peaceful 
crowd surrounded that balcony, when Whitfield, the 
eloquent pulpit orator, stirred and affected the crowd 
below, raising his voice " to be readily heard by boat- 
men on the Delaware ! — " praising faith," and " attack- 
ing works," and good Bishop Tillotson, and incensing 
the papists among us greatly. The Friends, in many 
instances, thought him " not in sober mood" — and, 
among themselves, imputed much of his influence on 
15 



170 



HISTORIC TALES 



the minds of the unstable " to priestcraft, although in 
himself a very clever conversable man." From the 
same stand, stood and preached one Michael Welfare, 
'* one of the Christian philosophers of Conestoga," 
having a linen hat, a full beard, and his pilgrim staff, 
declaring himself sent to announce the vengeance of the 
Almighty against the guilty province, and selling his 
" warning voice" for 4d. 

Such were the various uses to which this Towne 
House was appropriated, until the time of " the new 
State house," erected in 1735 ; after which, this before 
venerated hall was supplanted, and degraded to inferior 
purposes ; but long, very long, it furnished the only 
chambers for the courts of the province. There began 
the first lawyers to tax their skill to make " the worse 
appear the better cause," — enrolling on its first page 
of fame the names of David Lloyd, Samuel Herset, Mr. 
Clark, Patrick Robinson, the renter of the first " hired 
prison," and Mr. Pickering, for aught we now know, 
the early counterfeiter. Then presided judges " quite 
scrupulous to take or administer oaths," and " some, for 
conscience sake," refusing Penn their services after 
their appointment. In after times, John Ross and An- 
drew Hamilton divided the honours of the bar — the 
latter, in 1735, having gone to New York to manage 
the cause of poor Zenger, the persecuted printer, (by 
the governor and council there,) gave such signal satis- 
faction to the city rulers and people, that the corpora- 
tion conferred on him the freedom of the city, " in an 
elegant golden snuffbox with many classical allusions." 
Descending in the scale to later times, and before the 
revolution, we find such names, there schooled to their 



OF OLDEN TIME. 171 

future and more enlarged practice, as Wilson, Sergeant, 
Lewis, Edward Biddle, George Ross, Reed, Chew, Gal- 
loway, &c. This last had much practice, became cele- 
brated in the war for his union to Sir William Howe 
when in Philadelphia, suffered the confiscation of his 
estate, and, when in England, wrote publicly to dis- 
parage the inefficient measures of his friend the general, 
in subduing <' the unnatural rebellion" of his country- 
men. These men have long since left their renown, 
and " gone to their reward," leaving only, as a connect- 
ing link with the bar of the present day, such men as 
Judge Peters and William Rawle, Esq. to give us pass- 
ing recollections of what they may have seen most con- 
spicuous and interesting in their manners or characters 
as public pleaders. 

Finally, •• tlie busy siir of man," and the rapid growth 
of the " busy mart," has long since made it a necessary 
remove of business from the old court house. Sur- 
rounding commerce^ has " choked up the loaded street 
with foreign plenty." But, while we discard the vener- 
able pile from its former ennobling services, let us 
strive to cherish a lively remembrance of its departed 
glory, and with it associate the best affections due to 
our pilgrim ancestors, — though disused, not forgotten. 

The following facts will serve still further to enlarge 
and illustrate the leading history of the building, to 
wit : 

High street, since called Market street, was never 
intended for a market place by Penn. Both it and the 
court house, and all public buildings, as we are told by 
Oldmixon, were intended to have been placed at the 
Centre Square, When the court house was actually 



172 HISTORIC TALES 

placed at Second and High streets, they were com- 
plained of by some as an infraction of the city scheme, 
and as marring its beauty. Proud calls it and the 
market buildings " a shameful and inconvenient ob- 
struction." 



STATE HOUSE AND YARD. 



This distinguished building was begun in the year 
1729, and finished in the year 1734. The amplitude 
of such an edifice in so early a day, and the expensive 
interior decorations, are creditable evidences of the 
liberality and public spirit of the times. 

Before the location of the State house, the ground 
towards Chesnut street was more elevated than now. 
The grandmother of S. R. Wood remembered it when 
it was covered with whortleberry bushes. On the line 
of Walnut street the ground was lower, and was built 
upon with a few small houses, which were afterwards 
purchased and torn down, to enlarge and beautify the 
State house square. 

The present aged Thomas Bradford, Esq., who has 
described it as it was in his youth, says the yard at that 
time was but about half its present depth from Chesnut 
street, was very irregular on its surface, and no atten- 
tion paid to its appearance. On the Sixth street side, 
about fifteen to twenty feet from the then brick wall, 
the ground was sloping one to two feet below the gene- 
ral surface— over that space rested upon the wall a 



OF OLDEN TIME. 173 

long shed, which afforded and was used as the common 
shelter for the parties of Indians occasionally visiting 
the city on business.* Among such a party, he saw 
the celebrated old King Hendrick, about the year 1756, 
not long before he joined Sir Wilham Johnson at Lake 
George, and was killed. 

In the year 1760, the other half square, fronting on 
Walnut street, was purchased. After pulling down the 
houses there, among which were old Mr. Townsend's, 
who lamented over it as a patrimonial gift forced out 
of his possession by a jury valuation, the whole space 
was walled in with a high brick wall, and at the centre 
of the Walnut street wall was a ponderous high gate, 
and massive brick structure over the top of it, placed 
there by Joseph Fox. It was ornamental but heavy ; 
vis a vis to this gate, the south side of Walnut street, 
was a considerable space of vacant ground. 

About the year 1784, the father of the present John 
Vaughan, Esq., coming to Philadelphia from England 
to reside among us, set his heart upon improving and 
adorning the yard, as an embellishment to the city. He 
succeeded to accomplish this in a very tasteful and 
agreeable manner. The trees and shrubbery which he 
had planted were very numerous and in great variety. 
When thus improved, it became a place of general re- 
sort, as a delightful promenade. Windsor settees and 
garden chairs were placed in appropriate places, and 
all, for a while, operated as a charm. It was something 

* This shed afterwards became an artillery range, having its 
front gate of entrance upon Chesnut street. 
15* 



1 74 HISTORIC TALES 

in itself altogether unprecedented, in a public way, in 
the former simpler habits of our citizens ; but after 
some time it became, in the course of the day, to use 
the language of my informant, Mr. Bradford, the haunt 
of many idle people and tavern resorters ; and, in the 
evening, a place of rendezvous to profligate persons ; 
so that, in spite of public interest to the contrary, it run 
into disesteem among the better part of society. Efforts 
were made to restore its lost credit ; the seats were re- 
moved, and loungers spoken of as trespassers, <Sz;c. ; 
but the remedy came too late ; good company had de- 
serted it, and the tide of fashion did not again set in its 
favour. 

In later years, the fine elms, planted by Mr. Vaughan, 
annually lost their leaves by numerous caterpillars, (an 
accidental foreign importation,) which so much an- 
noyed the visiters, as well as the trees, that they were 
reluctantly cut down after attaining to a large size. 
After this, the dull, heavy brick wall was removed to 
give place to the present airy and more graceful iron 
palisade. Numerous new trees were planted to supply 
the place of the former ones removed, and now the 
place being revived, is returning again to pubhc favour; 
but our citizens have never had the taste for prome- 
nading public walks, so prevalent in Londoners and 
Parisians — a subject to be regretted, since the opportu- 
nity of indulgence is so expensively provided in this 
and the neighbouring Washington square. 

We come now to speak of the venerable pile, the 
State house, a place consecrated by numerous facts in 
our colonial and revolutionary history. Its contempla- 
tion fills the mind with numerous associations and local 



OF OLDEN TIME. 175 

impressions. Within its walls were once witnessed all 
the memorable doings of our spirited forefathers— above 
all, it was made renowned in 1776, as possessing be- 
neath its dome " the Hall of Independence," in which 
the representatives of a nation resolved to be " free and 
independent." 

The general history of such an edifice, destined to 
run its fame co-extensive with our history, may afford 
some interest to the reader. 

The style of the architecture of the house and steeple 
was directed by Dr. John Kearsley, sen. — the same 
amateur who gave the architectural character to Christ 
church. The carpenter employed was Mr. Edward 
Wooley. The facts concerning its bell first set up in 
the steeple, (if we regard its after history,) has some- 
thing peculiar. It was of itself not a little singular 
that the bell, when first set up, should, in its colonial 
character, have been inscribed as its motto — " Pro- 
claim liberty throughout the land, and to all the people 
thereof!" But it is still stranger, and deserves to be 
often remembered, that it was the first in Philadelphia, 
and from the situation of the congress then legislating 
beneath its peals, it M'as also the first in the United 
States, to proclaim, by ringing, the news of " the De- 
claration of Independence 1" The coincidents are cer- 
tainly peculiar, and could be amplified by a poetic 
imagination into many singular relations. 

This bell was imported from England, in 1752, for 
the State house ; but having met with some accident in 
the trial ringing, after it was landed, it lost its tones re- 
ceived in the father land, and had to be conformed to 
ours by a re-casting. This was done under the direc- 



176 HISTORIC TALES 

_tion of Isaac Norris, Esq., the then speaker of the colo- 
nial assembly ; and to him we are probably indebted 
for the remarkable motto so indicative of its future use. 
That it was adopted from Scripture (Lev. 25, 10) may 
to many be still more impressive, as being also the voice 
of God — of that great arbiter, by whose signal provi- 
dences we afterwards attained to that "liberty" and 
self government, which bids fair to emancipate our 
whole continent, and in time to influence and meliorate 
the condition of the subjects of arbitrary government 
throughout the civilized world. 

" The motto of our fatlier-baiid 
Circled the world in its embrace : 
'Twas "Liberty throughout the land, 
And good to all their brother race I" 
Long here — within the pilgrim's bell 
Had linger'd — tho' it often peal'd — 
Those treasur'd tones, that eke should tell 
When freedom's proudest scroll was sealed ; 
Here the dawn of reason broke 
On the trampled rights of man ; 
And a moral era woke, 
Brightest since the world began I 
And still shall deep and loud acclaim 
Here tremble on its sacred chime ; 
While e'er the thrilling trump of fame 
Shall linger on the pulse of time !" 

It was stated in the letters of Isaac Norris, that the 
bell got cracked by a stroke of the clapper when hung 
up to try the sound. Pass and Stow undertook to re- 
cast it ; and on this circumstance Mr. Norris remarks : 
" They have made a good bell, which pleases me much 
that we should first venture upon and succeed in the 



OF OLDEN TIME. 177 

greatest bell, for aught I know, in English America — 
surpassing, too, (he says,) the imported one, which was 
too high and brittle — [sufficiently emblematic!] — the 
weight was 2080 lbs." 

At the time the British were expected to occupy Phi- 
ladelphia, in 1777, the bell, with others, were taken 
from the city to preserve them from the enemy. At a 
former period — say 1774 — the base of the wood work 
of the steeple was found in a state of decay, and it was 
deemed advisable to take it down, leaving only a small 
belfry to cover the bell for the use of the town clock. 
It so continued until the past year ; when public feeling 
being much in favour of restoring the venerated build- 
ing to its former character, (as seen when it became 
the Hall of Independence,) a new steeple was again 
erected as much like the former as circumstances would 
admit. The chamber in which the representatives 
signed the memorable declaration, on the eastern side, 
first floor, we are sorry to add, is not in the primitive 
old style of wainscotted and pannelled grandeur in 
which it once stood in appropriate conformity with the 
remains still found in the great entry and stairway. To 
remove and destroy these, made a job for some of the 
former sapient commissioners, but much to the chagrin 
of men of taste and feeling, who felt, when La Fayette 
possessed that chamber (five years ago) as his appro- 
priate hall of audience, that it was robbed of half its 
associations.* For that eventful occasion, and duly to 
honour " the nation's guest," (who cordially invited all 

* We are glad to add, that the whole of the original form has 
been lately restored. 



178 HISTORIC TALES 

our citizens to visit iiim,) all the former interior furni- 
ture of benches and forms occupying the floor were 
removed, and the whole area was richly carpeted and 
furnished with numerous mahogany chairs, &c. 

To revert back to the period of the revolution, when 
that hall was consecrated to perpetual fame, by the de- 
cisive act of the most talented and patriotic convention 
of men that ever represented our country, brings us to 
the contemplation of those hazards and extremities 
which "tried men's souls." Their energies and civic 
virtues were tested in the deed. Look at the sign 
manual in their signatures ; not a hand faltered — no 
tremor aflfected any but Stephen Hopkins, who had a 
natural infirmity.* We could wish to sketch with pic- 
turesque effect the honoured group who thus sealed the 
destinies of a nation. The genius of Trumbull has 
done this so far as canvass could accomplish it. Ano- 
ther group, formed solely of citizens, was soon after- 
wards assembled by public call, to hear the declaration 
read in the State house yard by Captain John Hopkins 
of the navy, who stood upon a small observatory, sup- 
posed to be the same erected there to observe the 
transit of Venus, in 1769. 

When the regular sessions of the assembly were held 
in the State house, the senate occupied upstairs, and 
the lower house in the same chamber since called the 
Hall of Independence. In the former, Anthony Morris 
is remembered as speaker, occupying an elevated chair 
facing the north — himself a man of amiable mien, con- 

* Their plain and fairly legible hands might shame the modern 
affectation of many who make signatures not to be read. 



OF OLDEN TIME. 179 

templative aspect, dressed in a suit of drab cloth, flaxen 
hair slightly powdered, and his eyes fronted with spec- 
tacles. The representative chamber had George Lati- 
mer for speaker, seated with face to the west — a well 
formed, manly person ; " his fair large front and eye 
sublime declared absolute rule." 

The most conspicuous persons which struck the eye 
of a lad, were Mr. Coolbaugh, a member from Berks, 
called the Dutch giant, from his great amplitude of sta- 
ture and person ; and Doctor Michael Leib, the active 
democratic member — a gentleman of much personal 
beauty, always fashionably dressed, and seen often mov- 
ing to and fro in the house, to hold his converse with 
other members. 

But these halls of legislation and court uses were not 
always restricted to grave debate and civil rule. It 
sometimes (in colonial days) served the occasion of 
generous banqueting, and the consequent hilarity and 
jocund glee. In the long gallery upstairs, where Peale 
afterwards had his museum, the long tables have been 
sometimes made to groan with their long array of 
bountiful repast. I shall mention some such occasions, 
to wit : 

In September, 1736, soon after the edifice was com- 
pleted, his Honour William Allen, Esq., the mayor, 
made a feast at his own expense, at the State house, to 
which all strangers of note were invited. The Gazette 
of the day says, " All agree that for excellency of fare, 
and number of guests, it was the most elegant enter- 
tainment ever given in these parts." 

In August, 1766, the assembly, then in session, on 
the occasion of the arrival of the new governor, Denny, 



180 HISTORIC TALES 

gave him a great dinner at the State house, at which 
were present " the civil and military officers and clergy 
of the city." 

In March, 1767, on the occasion of the visit of Lord 
Loudon, as commander in chief of the king's troops in 
the colonies, the city corporation prepared a splendid 
banquet at the State house, for himself and General 
Forbes, then commander at Philadelphia, and south- 
ward, together with the officers of the royal Americans, 
the governor, gentlemen strangers, civil officers, and 
clergy. 

Finally, in 1 774, when the first congress met in Phi- 
ladelphia, the gentlemen of the city, having prepared 
them a sumptuous entertainment at the State house, 
met at the City tavern, and thence went in procession 
to the dining hall, where about 500 persons were feast- 
ed, and the toasts were accompanied by music and 
great guns. 

For many year54he pubhc papers of the colony, and 
afterwards of the ,^lty and state, were kept in the east 
and west wings of the State house, without any fire proof 
security as they now possess. From their manifest in- 
security, it was deejned expedient, about nine years ago, 
to pull down those former two story brick wings, and 
to supply their place by those which are now there. In 
former times, such important papers as rest with the 
prothonotaries were kept in their offices at their family 
residences. Thus Nicholas Biddle long had his in his 
house, one door west of the present Farmers and Me- 
chanics Bank, in Chesnut street ; and Edward Burd 
had his in his office, up a yard in Fourth street below 
Walnut street. 



OF OLDEN TIME. 181 

In pulling down the western wing, Mr. Grove, the 
nnaster mason, told me of several curious discoveries 
made under the foundation, in digging for the present 
cellars. Close by the western wall of the State house, 
at the depth of four or five feet, he came to a keg of 
excellent flints ; the wood was utterly decayed, but the 
impression of the keg was distinct in the loam ground. 
Near to it he found, at the same depth, the entire equip- 
ments of a sergeant — a sword, musket, cartouch-box, 
buckles, &;c. ; the wood- being decayed, left the im- 
pressions of what they had been. They also dug up, 
close by the same, as many as one dozen bomb shells 
filled with powder. And two of these, as a freak of 
the mason's lads, are now actually walled into the new 
cellar wall on the south side. But for this explanation, 
a day may yet come when such a discovery might give 
circulation to another Guy Faux and gunpowder plot 
story. 



OFFICE OF SECRETARY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 



Our city, justly fond of her pre-eminence as the 
home of the founders of an important state, has also 
the superadded glory of possessing v.'ithin her precincts 
the primitive edifice in which the great national con- 
cerns of this distinguished republic were commenced 
and sustained. The small building of but twelve feet 
front, now occupied as a small shop for vending cakes 
16 



182 HISTORIC TALES 

and children's trifles, was once the office of Secretary 
for Foreign Aflfairs. From that humble looking bureau 
were once fulminated those determined and national 
resolves which made our foreign foes to cower, and 
secured our independence among the nations: "Though 
small our means, great were our measures and our 
end !" 

From the contemplation of such a lowly structure, 
so seemingly disproportionate to our present great at- 
tainments, (" a generation m^re refined improved the 
simple plan!") the mind recurs back instinctively to 
those other primitive days, when the energies of the 
pilgrim founders were in like manner restricted within 
the narrow bounds of " Lsetitia Court,'' and within the 
walls of " Laetitia House," on which occasion, Penn's 
letter of 1687, (in my possession,) recommends " a 
change of the offices of state, from his cottage, to quar- 
ters more commodious." 

The "Office for Secretary of Foreign Affairs," un- 
der present consideration, is the same building now on 
the piemises of P. S. Duponceau, Esq. situate on the 
eastern side of South Sixth street, No. 13 — a house ap- 
propriately owned by such a possessor ; for, in it, he, 
who came as a volunteer to join our fortunes, and to 
aid our cause, as a captain under Baron Steuben, be- 
came afterwards one of the under secretaries to our 
minister of foreign relations, and in that building gave 
his active and early services. In the years 1782 and 
1783, under that humble roof, presided as our then 
secretary for foreign affairs, the Hon. Robert R. Living- 
ston. Up stairs, in the small front room facing the 



OF OLDEN TIME. 183 

street, sat that distinguished personage, wielding by his 
mind and pen the destinies of our nation. 

Mr. Duponceau, from whom I have derived much of 
these facts, which passed under his immediate observa- 
tion, has occasionally delighted himself and me in de- 
scribing, with good humoured emotion and picturesque 
delineation, the various scenes which have there occa- 
sionally occurred, and the great personages who have 
frequently clambered up the dark and narrow winding 
stairs, to make their respects to or their negotiations 
with the representative of the nation — such as the Mar- 
quis La Fayette, Count Rochambeau, the Duke de 
Lauzan, Count Dillon, Prince Guemenee, &-c. Our 
own great men, such as Madison, Morris, Hamilton, 
Mifflin, &:.c. were visiters of course. After the peace, 
in the same small upper chamber, were received the 
homage of the British General Allured Clark, and the 
famous Major Hanger, once the favourite of the late 
George IV. 

This frail fabric, in veneration of its past services, 
(though a thing now scarcely known to our citizens as 
a matter " in common parlance,") is devoted, during 
the life of its present generous and feeling owner, " to 
remain (as he says) a proud monument of the simplicity 
of the founders of our revolution." It is, in truth, as 
deserving of encomium for its humble moderation, as 
was the fad, renowned in history, respecting the repub- 
lic of the Netherlands in her best days, when her grand 
pensionary, Heinsius, was deemed superlatively enno- 
bled, because he walked the streets of the Hague with 
only a single servant, and sometimes with even none. 
Quite as worthy of memorial was the equivalent fact, 



184 HISTOBIC TALES 

that our then venerable president of congress, the Hon. 
Samuel Huntingdon, together with Mr. Duponceau, 
often made their breakfast on whortleberries and milk. 
On such occasions, the president has facetiously re- 
marked I' — '^ What now, Mr. Duponceau, would the 
princes of Europe say, could they see the first magis- 
trate of this great country at his frugal repast!" 

Long may our sons remember and respect these facts 
of our generous and devoted forefathers. And long 
may the recollection of the memorable deeds of this 
house — 

" a great example stand, to show, 



How strangely high endeavours may be blest 



THEATRES. 



Much opposition was originally made to the intro- 
duction of theatrical entertainments into Philadelphia, 
chiefly by the religious part of the community. From 
this cause, those which were first regularly established 
opened their houses just beyond the bounds and control 
of the city officers. Finally, when it was first attempted 
to set up the Chesnut street theatre in the city, in 1793, 
great efforts were made by both parties to get up me- 
morials pro and con. 

The earliest mention of theatrical performance oc- 
curred in the year 1749. Then the recorder reported 
to the common council, that certain persons had lately 



or OLDEN TIME. 



185 



taken upon them to act plays, and, as he was informed, 
intended to make frequent practice thereof; which, it 
was to be feared, would be attended with very mis- 
chievous effects — such as the encouragement of idle- 
ness, and drawing much money from weak and incon- 
siderate persons. Wherefore the board resolved to 
bind over the performers to their good behaviour. 
From the premises, it is probable they were mere 
home-made pretenders. 

In the year 1754, some real Thespians arrived, called 
'* Hallam's Company," from London, including Mrs. 
Hallam and her two sons. In the month of March, 
they obtained license to act a few plays in Philadelphia, 
conditioned that they offered nothing indecent or im- 
moral. In April, they opened their " new theatre in 
Water street," in a store of Wm. Plumstead's, corner 
of the first alley above Pine street. Their first enter- 
tainment was the Fair Penitent, and Miss in her Teens 
— box 6s., pit 4s., and gallery 2s. 6d — said to have 
been offered '^ to a numerous and polite audience" — 
terms of attraction intended for the next play. In the 
prologue to the first performance, some hints at their 
usefulness, as moral instructors, were thus enforced, 
to wit : 

" Too oft, we own, the stage with demgerous art, 
In wanton scenes, has play'd a syren's part ; 
Yet, if the muse, unfaithful to her trust, 
Has sometimes stray 'd from what was pure and just. 
Has she not oft, with awful virtuous rage. 
Struck home at vice, and nobly trod the stage ? 
Then as you 'd treat a favourite Fair's mistake, 
Pray spare her foibles for her virtue's sake : 
16* 



1S6 HISTORIC TALES 

And whilst her chastest scenes are made appear, 
(For none but such will find admittance here) 
The muse's friends, we hope, will join the cause, 
And crown our best endeavours with applause." 

In the mean time, those who deemed them an evil to 
society were very busy in distributing pamphlets gratis, 
if possible to write them down. They continued, how- 
ever, their plays till the month of July. 

We hear nothing of this company again until their 
return in 1759 ; they then came in the month of July to 
a theatre prepared tlie year before at the southwest 
corner of Vernon and South streets, called the theatre 
on " Society Hill." It was there placed on the south 
side of the city bounds, so as to be out of the reach of 
city control by city authorities ; and " Society Hill" 
itself was a name only, having no laws. Great efforts 
were now made by the Friends, and other religious 
people, to prevent plays even there ; much was written 
and printed pro and con. The Presbyterian synod, in 
July, 1759, formally addressed the governor and legis- 
lature to prevent it. The Friends made their applica- 
tion to Judge William Allen to repress them. His re- 
ply was repulsive, saying, he had got more moral virtue 
from plays than from sermons. As a sequel, it was 
long remembered that the night the theatre opened, 
and to which he intended to be a gratified spectator, he 
was called to mourn the death of his wife. This first 
built theatre was constructed of wood, and is now 
standing in the form of three dwelling houses at the 
corner of Vernon and South streets. The chief players 
then were Douglass, who married Mrs. Hallara ; the 
two Hallams, her sons ; and Misses Cheer and Morris. 



OF OLDEN TIME. 187 

Francis Mentges, afterwards an officer in our service, 
was the dancing performer,— while he danced, he as- 
sumed the name of Francis. The motto of the stage 
was, " Totus mundus agit histrionem*" F. Mentges 
had talents above his original profession, and was, in 
the time of the revolution, esteemed a good officer. 

In the course of ten years, these comedians had so 
far acted themselves into favour as to need more room, 
and therefore they had got themselves ready, by the 
year 1760, to open another theatre — a larger building, 
constructed of wood, situate also in South street, above 
Fourth street, and still keeping within the line of South- 
wark and beyond the bounds of city surveillance. The 
managers were Hallam and Henry. 

While the British occupied Philadelphia, they held 
regular plays in the South wark theatre, the performers 
being officers of Howe's army, — the box tickets at one 
dollar, and the proceeds used for the widows and or- 
phans of soldiers. Major Andie and Captain Delancy 
were the chief scene painters. The waterfall scene, 
drawn by the former, continued on the curtain as long 
as that theatre lasted. It was burnt down a few years 
ago. 

When the theatre was erected in Chesnut street in 
1793, it received and retained the name of the " New 
Theatre," in contradistinction to the Soulhwark The- 
atre, which afterwards generally was called the Old 
Theatre. Mr. Wignell was first manager. 

There was a small wooden theatre, about (he year 
1790, on the wharf up at Noble street ; it was turned 
into a boat shed. '^ Jack Durang," as Scaramouch, is 



188 HISTORIC TALES 

all that is remembered by those who saw the company 
of that day. 

The reminiscences of the " Old Theatre" of 1788 to 
1798, as furnished by my friend Lang Syne, are to the 
following effect, to wit : 

The Old Theatre (Southwark) was the only theatre 
with a regular company, all " stars," in the United 
States, or at that time in the New World. The build- 
ing, compared with the new houses, was an ugly ill- 
contrived affair, outside and inside. The stage lighted 
by plain oil lamps without glasses. The view from the 
boxes was intercepted by large square wooden pillars 
supporting the upper tier and roof. 

The stage box on the east side was decorated with 
suitable emblems for the reception of President Wash- 
ington, whenever he delighted the audience by his pre- 
sence ; at which time the Poor Soldier was invariably 
played by his desire. <' Old HalJam" prided himself on 
his unrivalled Lord Ogleby in the Clandestine Mar- 
riage, and Mungo in the Padlock. " Old Henry" was 
the pride of the place in Irishmen. An anecdote is 
related of his being one night in a passionate part, and 
whirling his cane about, when it flew out of his hand 
into the pit, without doing any damage ; on its being 
handed to him, he bowed elegantly and said, in charac- 
ter, " Faith, whenever I fly in a passion my cane flies 
too." Another : that, on being hit with an orange from 
the gallery, he picked it up, and bowing, said, " That 's 
no Seville (civil) orange." 

A gentleman of this city, known familiarly to the in- 
habitants generally as " Nick Hammond," used to play 



OF OLDEN TIME. 



189 



for his amusement in Jews. Wignell's Darby was al- 
ways beheld with raptures. Hodgkinson was the uni- 
versal favourite in tragedy, comedy, opera, and farce, 
and was supposed to be one of the best actors of " All 
work'''' that ever trod the boards. His Robin, in No 
Song No Supper, and Wignell's Darby, in the Poor 
Soldier, were rivals in tlie public taste, and have never 
been equalled here. Does none remember ? About 
this time Wignell and Reinagle being about to build a 
new theatre, the corner stone of which had been laid 
at the northwest corner of Sixth and Chesnut streets, 
and Wignell having started '' for England," to beat up 
for theatrical forces, Hallam and Henry made arrange- 
ments to retire from " Old South" to New York, where 
an immense pile of stone work was put up opposite the 
Park for their reception as a theatre. The old com= 
pany went out, and the new company came into public 
notice, in the winter of 1793. The only house on the 
" tother side of the gutter" at the time, was Oeller's 
Hotel, which was fired by flames from Ricketts' circus, 
(erected some years afterwards,) and both were burnt 
to the ground one evening. 



1 90 HISTORIC TALES 



INDIANS. 



•A swarthy tribe- 



Slipt from the secret hand of Providence, 
They come, we see not how, nor know we whence ; 
That seem'd created on the spot — though born, 
, In transatlantic climes, and thither brought. 
By paths as covert as the birth of thought!" 

There is in the fate of these unfortunate beings, 
much to awaken our sympathy, and much to disturb 
the sobriety of our judgment, much in their characters 
to incite our involuntary admiration. What can be 
more melancholy than their history ! By a law of their 
nature, they seem destined to a slow but sure extinc- 
tion. Every where, at the approach of the white man 
they fade away. We hear the rustling of their footsteps, 
like that of the withered leaves of autumn ; and them- 
selves, like " the sear and yellow leaf," are gone for ever ! 

If they had the vices of savage life, they had the vir- 
tues also. They were true to their country, their 
friends, and their homes. If they forgave not injury 
under misconceptions of duty, neither did they forget 
kindness — 

"Faithful alike to friendship or to hate." 

If their vengeance was terrible, their fidelity and 
generosity were unconquerable also. Their love, like 
their hate, stopped not on this side of the grave. But 
where are they now ? Perished, consumed ! 



The glen or hill, 



Their cheerful whoop has ceas'd to thrill 



OP OLDEN TIME. 191 

The Indians were always the friends of Miquon, of 
Onas — of our forefathers ! It was their greatest plea- 
sure to cultivate mutual good will and kindness. " None 
ever entered the cabin of Logan hungry, and he gave 
him no meat ; or cold, or naked, and he gave him no 
clothes." Grateful hearts must cherish kindly recol- 
lections of a too often injured race. We are therefore 
disposed, as Pennsylvanians, to treasure up some kw of 
the facts least known of them, in the times by-gone of 
our annals. 

We begin with their primitive character and habits, 
as seen by William Penn, and told in his letter of Au- 
gust, 1683, to the Free Society of Traders. 

The natives I shall consider in their persons, lan- 
guage, manners, religion, and government, with my 
sense of their original. For their persons, they are 
generally tall, straight, well-built, and of singular pro- 
portion ; they tread strong and clever, and mostly walk 
with a lofty chin. Of complexion, black, but by design ; 
as the gypsies in England. They grease themselves 
with bear's fat clarified ; and using no defence against 
sun or weather, their skins must needs be swarthy. 
Their eye is little and black, not unlike a straight-looked 
Jew. Th^ thick lip, and flat nose, so frequent with the 
East Indians and blacks, are not common to them ; for 
I have seen as comely European-like faces among 
them, as on your side the sea ; and truly an Italian 
complexion hath not much more of the white, and the 
noses of several of them have as much of the Roman. 

Of their customs and manners, there is much to be 
said ; I will begin with children. So soon as they are 
born, they wash them in water ; and while very young, 



192 HISTORIC TALES 

and in cold weather, they plunge them in the rivers, to 
harden and embolden them. The children will go very 
young, at nine months commonly ; if boys, they go a 
fishing till ripe for the woods, which is about fifteen ; 
then they hunt, and after having given some proofs of 
their manhood, by a good return of skins, they may 
marry ; else it is a shame to think of a wife. The girls 
stay with their mothers, and help to hoe the ground, 
plant corn, and carry burdens ; and they do well to use 
them to that young, which they must do when they are 
old ; for the wives are the true servants of the husbands : 
otherwise the men are very afi'ectionate to them. 

Their houses are mats, or bark of trees, set on poles, 
in the fashion of an English barn; but out of the power 
of the winds, for they are hardly higher than a man ; 
they lie on reeds, or grass. In travel they lodge in the 
woods, about a great fire, with the mantle of dufiils they 
wear by day wrapt about them, and a faw boughs stuck 
round them. 

Their diet is maize, or Indian corn, divers ways pre- 
pared ; sometimes roasted in the ashes ; sometimes 
beaten and boiled with water, which they call homine ; 
they also make cakes, not unpleasant to eat. They 
have likewise several sorts of beans and pease, that are 
good nourishment ; and the woods and rivers are their 
larder. 

If an European comes to see them, or calls for lodg- 
ing at their house or wigwam, they give him the best 
place and first cut. If they come to visit us, they sa- 
lute us with an Itah ; which is as much as to say, Good, 
he to you^ and set them down ; which is mostly on the 
ground, close to their heels, their legs upright ; it may 



OF OLDEN TIME. 193 

be they speak not a word, but observe all passages. If 
you give them any thing to eat or drink, well ; for they 
will not ask ; and be it little or much, if it be with 
kindness, they are well pleased, else they go away sul- 
len, but say nothing. 

They are great concealers of their own resentments; 
brought to it, I believe, by the revenge that hath been 
practised among them. 

But, in liberaHty they excel ; nothing is too good for 
their friend : give them a fine gun, coat, or other thing, 
it may pass twenty hands before it sticks ; light of heart, 
strong affections, but soon spent. The most merry 
creatures that live, feast and dance perpetually ; they 
never have much, nor want much : wealth circulateth 
like the blood ; all parts partake ; and though none 
shall want what another hath, yet exact observers of 
property. They care for little, because they want but 
little ; and the reason is, a little contents them. In this 
they are sufficiently revenged on us : if they are igno- 
rant of our pleasures, they are also free from our pains. 
We sweat and toil to live ; their pleasure feeds them ; 
I mean their hunting, fishing, and fowling ; and this 
table is spread every where. They eat twice a day, 
morning and evening ; their seats and table are the 
ground. 

I have compiled from the work of the Swedish tra- 
veller. Professor Kalm, his notices of our Indians pre- 
ceding the year 1748, to wit: 

OF THEIR FOOD AND MODE OF LIVING. 

Maize, (Indian corn,) some kinds of beans and 
melons, made up the sum of the Indians' gardening. 
17 



194 HISTOEIC TALES 

Their chief support arose from hunting and fishing. 
Besides these, the oldest Swedes related that the Indians 
were accustomed to get nourishment from the following 
wild plants, to wit : 

Hopniss, so called by the Indians, and also by the 
Swedes, (the Glycine Apios of Linnaeus,) they found in 
the meadows. The roots resembled potatoes, and were 
eaten boiled, instead of bread. 

Taw-ho, so called by the Indians and Swedes, (the 
Arum Virginicum or Wake-robin, and poisonous,) grew 
in moist grounds, and swamps : they ate the root of it. 
The roots grew to the thickness of a man's thigh ; and 
the hogs rooted them up and devoured them eagerly. 
The Indians destro3'ed their poisonous quality by baking 
them. They made a long trench in the ground, put in 
the roots, and covered them with earth, and over them 
they made a great fire. They tasted somewhat like 
potatoes. 

Taw-kee, so called by the Indians and Swedes, (the 
Orontium Aquaticum,) grew plentifully in moist low 
grounds. Of these, they used the seeds when dried. 
These they boiled repeatedly to soften them, and then 
they ate somewhat like pease. When they got butter 
or milk from the Swedes, they boiled them together. 

Bilberries or whortleberries, (a species of vaccinium,) 
was a common diet among the Indians. They dried them 
in the sun, and kept them packed as close as currants. 

OF THEIR IMPLEMENTS FOR DOMESTIC OR FIELD USE. 

The old boilers or kettles of the Indians, were either 
made of clay, or of different kinds of pot stone (Lapis 
Ollaris). The former consisted of a dark clay, mixed 



OF OLDEN TIME. 195 

with grains of white sand or quartz, and probably burnt 
in the fire. Many of these kettles had two holes in the 
upper margin ; on each side one, through which they 
passed a stick, and held therewith the kettle over the 
fire. It is remarkable, that none of these pots have 
been found glazed, either inside or outside. A few of 
the old Swedes could remember to have seen the In- 
dians use such pots to boil their meat in. They were 
made sometimes of a greenish, and sometimes of a 
grayish pot stone ; and some were made of another 
species of a pyrous stone. They were very thin. Mr. 
Bartram, the botanist, showed him an earthen pot, 
which had been dug up at a place where the Indians 
had lived — on the outside it was much ornamented. 
Mr. Bartram had also several broken pieces. They 
were all made of mere clay, in which were mixed, ac- 
cording to the convenience of the makers, pounded 
shells of snails and muscles, or of crystals found in the 
mountains ; it was plain they did not burn them much, 
because they could be cut up with a knife. Since the 
Europeans have come among them, they disuse them, 
and have even lost the art of making them. [All these 
remarks much accord with the speculations which I 
have preserved on this subject, respecting the potteries 
found in the tumuli in the western countries.] 

The hatchets of the Indians were made of stone, 
somewhat of the shape of a wedge. This was notched 
round the biggest end, and to this they affixed a split 
stick for a handle, bound round with a cord. These 
hatchets could not serve, however, to cut any thing like 
a tree ; their means, therefore, of getting trees for ca- 
noes, &c. was to put a great fire round the roots of a 



1 96 HISTOKIC TALES 

big tree to burn it off, and with a swab of rags on a 
pole to keep the tree constantly wet above, until the 
fire below burnt it off. When the tree was down, they 
laid dry branches on the trunk and set fire to it, and 
kept swabbing that part of the tree which they did not 
want to burn ; thus the tree burnt a hollow in one place 
only ; when burnt enough, they chipt or scraped it 
smooth inside with their hatchets, or sharp flints, or 
sharp shells. 

Instead of knives, they used little sharp pieces of 
flints or quartz, or a piece of sharpened bone. 

At the end of their arrows they fastened narrow an- 
gulated pieces of stone ; these were commonly flints or 
quartz. I have such, as well as hatchets, in my pos- 
session. Some made use of the claws of biids and 
beasts. 

They had stone pestles of about a foot long and five 
inches in thickness ; with these they pounded their maize. 
Many had only wooden pestles. The Indians were as- 
tonished beyond measure when they saw the first wind- 
mills to grind grain. They were, at first, of opinion that 
not the wind, but spirits within them gave them their 
momentum. They would come from a great distance, 
and sit down for days near them, to wonder and admire 
at them 1 

The old tobacco pipes were made of clay or pot 
stone, or serpentine stone^ — the tube thick and short. 
Some were made better, of a very fine red pot stone, 
and were seen chiefly with the sachems. Some of the 
old Dutchmen at New York preserved the tradition, 
that the first Indians seen by the Europeans made use 
of copper for their tobacco pipes, got from the second 



OF OLDEN TIME. 197 

river near Elizabethtown. In confirmation of this, it 
was observed that the people met with holes worked in 
the mountains, out of which some copper had been 
taken ; and they even found some tools which the In- 
dians probably used for the occasion. They used birds' 
claws instead of fishinghooks ; the Swedes saw them 
succeed in this way. 

Mr. Kalm, who, the reader may observe, was very 
curious and minute in all his investigations, has given a 
full catalogue of all the trees and plants he saw in Penn- 
sylvania ; and to these he has often affixed a variety of 
medical uses to which they were applied by the primi- 
tive inhabitants ; and also the colours to which many of 
them were adapted as dyes. It is sufficient for my pur- 
pose to mention the fact, and to conclude with an unre- 
served confession of my gratification in having found so 
competent a chronicler of the incidents of the olden 
time. 

The Indians whom we usually call Delawares, be- 
cause first found about the regions of the Delaware 
river, never used that name among themselves ; they 
called themselves Lenni Lenape, which means, " the 
original people''' — Lenni meaning original — whereby 
they expressed they were an unmixed race, who had 
never changed their character since the creation ; — in 
effect, they were primitive sons of Adam, and others 
were sons of the curse, as of Ham, or of the outcast 
Ishmael, &c. 

They, as well as the Mengwe, (called by us Iroquois,) 
agreed in saying they came from westward of the Mis- 
sissippi — called by them Namcesi Sipu, or river offish — 
and that when they came over to the eastern side of that 
17* 



198 HISTORIC TALES 

river, they there encountered and finally drove off all 
the former inhabitants, called the AUigewi — (and of 
course ihe primitives of all our country) — who, proba- 
bly, such as survived, sought refuge in Mexico. 

From these facts we may learn, that however unjusti- 
fiable, in a moral sense, may be the aggressions of our 
border men, yet on the rule of the lex talionis we may 
lake refuge and say, we only drive off or dispossess 
tliose who were themselves encroachers^ even as all our 
Indians, as above stated, were. 

The Indians called the Quakers, Quekeh, and " the 
English," by inability of pronouncing it, they sounded 
Yengees; from whence, probably, we have now our 
name of Yankees. In their own language they called 
the English Saggenah. 

The last of the Lenape^ nearest resident to Philadel- 
phia, died in Chester county, in the person of" Old In- 
dian Hannah," in 1803. She had her wigwam many 
years upon the Brandy wine, and used to travel much 
about in selling her baskets, &;c. On such occasions, 
she was often followed by her dog and her pigs — all 
stopping where she did. She lived to be nearly a hun- 
dred years of age — had a proud and lofty spirit to the 
last, — hated the blacks, and scarcely brooked the lower 
orders of the whites. Her family before her had dwelt 
with other Indians in Kennet township. She often 
spoke emphatically of the wrongs and misfortunes of 
her race, upon whom her affections still dwelt. As she 
grew old, she quitted her solitude, and dwelt in friendly 
families. 

A person visiting her cabin, on the farm of Humphrey 
Marshall, thus expressed his emotions : 



OF OLDEN TIME. 199 

" Was this the spot, where Indian Hannah's form 
Was seen to linger, weary, worn with care ? 
Yes, — that rude cave was once the happy home 
Of Hannah, last of her devoted race ; 
But she too, now, has sunk into the tomb, 
And briars and thistles wave above the place." 

' INDIAN VISITS TO THE CITY. 

From a very early period it was the practice of Indian 
companies occasionally to visit the city — not for any 
public business, but merely to buy, and sell, and look 
on. On such occasions they usually found their shelter, 
for the two or three weeks which they remained, about 
the State house yard.* There they would make up 
baskets, and sell them to the visiters, from the ash strips 
which they brought with them. Before the revolution, 
such visits were frequent, and after that time they much 
diminished, so that now they are deemed a rarity. 

Such of the Indians as came to the city on public 
service, were always provided for in the east wing of 
the State house, upstairs, and at the same time their 
necessary support there was provided for by the govern- 
ment. 

Old people have told me, that the visits of Indians 
were so frequent as to excite but little surprise ; their 
squaws and children generally accompanied them. On 
such occasions they went abroad much in the streets, 
and would any where stop to shoot at marks, of small 

* There was a shed constructed for them along the western 
wall ; under it was sheltered for some time, as old Thomas Brad- 
ford has told me, old King Hendricks and a party of his warriors, 
just before they went to join Sir William Johnson at Lake 
George. 



200 HISTORIC TALES 

coin, set on the tops of posts. They took what they 
could so hit with their arrows. 

On the 6th of 6 mo. 1749, there was at the State 
house an assemblage of 260 Indians, of eleven different 
tribes, assembled there with the governor to make a 
treaty. The place was extremely crowded ; and Ca- 
naswetigo, a chief, made a long speech. There were 
other Indians about the city at the same time, making 
together probably 4 to 600 Indians at one time. The 
same Indians remained several days at Logan's place, 
in his beech woods. 

As the country increased in population, they changed 
their public assemblages to frontier towns — such as 
Pittsburg and Easton for Pennsylvania, and Albany for 
New York, &c. 

They once hung an Indian at Pegg's run, at the 
junction of Cable lane. The crowd assembled there 
stood on the hill. He had committed murder. Old 
Mrs. Shoemaker and Jolm Brown told me of this fact, 
and said the place afterwards took the name of " Gal- 
lows Hill" for a long while. In my youthful days, Cal- 
lowhill street was often called Gallowshill street. 

INDIAN ALARMS AND MASSACRE. 

The defeat of Braddock's army in 1755, near Pitts- 
burg, seems to have produced great excitement and 
much consternation among the inhabitants of Pennsyl- 
vania, even within a present day*s journey from Phila- 
delphia. Fifty thousand pounds was voted by the legis- 
lature to raise additional troops. The people at and 
about Carlisle were in great alarm as frontier inhabit- 
ants ; and Colonel Dunbar, who had the command of 



OF OLDEN TIME. 201 

the retreating army, was earnestly besought to remain 
on the frontier, and not to come on to Philadelphia, as 
he soon afterwards did, to seek for winter quarters. He 
was nicknamed " Dunbar the tardy." 

To give an idea how thin the settlement of our coun- 
try was at that time, it may serve to say, that such near 
counties as Northampton and Berks experienced the 
ravages of the scalping knife, by predatory parties. 
From Easton to fifty miles above it, the whole country 
was deserted, and many murders occurred. Easton 
town, and the Jerseys opposite, were filled with the ter- 
rified inhabitants. Some skulking Indians were seen 
about Nazareth and Bethlehem. The gazettes of the 
time have frequent extracts of letters from persons in 
the alarmed districts. Philadelphia itself was full of 
sympathetic excitement. The governor, for instance, 
communicates to the assembly, that he has heard that 
as many as 1500 French and Indians are actually en- 
camped on the Susquehannah, only thirty miles above 
the present Harrisburg. Some were at Kittochtinny 
Hills, eighty miles from Philadelphia. The burnings 
and scalpings at the Great Cove were general. At Tul- 
pehocken the ravages were dreadful : one little girl, of 
six years of age, was found alive, with her scalp off"! 
The Irish settlement at the Great Cove was entirely 
destroyed. 

It may give some idea of the alarm which these 
events caused, even on the seaboard, to know, that such 
was the report received at Bohemia, in Cecil county, 
(received by an express from New Castle, and believed,) 
that 1500 French and Indians had reached Lancaster, 
and burnt it to the ground, and were proceeding on- 



202 HISTORIC TALES 

ward. Three companies of infantry, and a troop of 
cavalry, immediately set off towards Lancaster, and ac- 
tually reached the head of Elk before they heard any 
counter intelligence, — to wit, in November, 1755. 

So sensitive as the frontier men must have felt, they 
became jealous, lest the Philadelphians and the assem- 
bly were too much under the pacific policy of the 
Friends to afford them in time the necessary defensive 
supplies. To move them to a livelier emotion, an ex- 
pedient of gross character was adopted, — it was, to 
send on to Philadelphia the bodies of a murdered fami- 
ly ! These actually reached Philadelphia in the winter, 
like frozen venison from their mountains — were paraded 
through our city, and finally set down before the legis- 
lative hall — as ecce factum ! 

It seems much to diminish the idea of time to say, 
there are now persons ahve at Easton, Nazareth, &c. 
who once witnessed frontier ravages in their neighbour- 
hood, or had their houses filled with refugees ; and also 
persons, still in Philadelphia, who saw that parade of 
bloody massacre. Thomas Bradford, Esq., now alive, 
thus writes for me, saying, " I saw, when a boy, in the 
State house yard, the corpse of a German man, his 
wife, and grown up son, who were all killed and scalped 
by the Indians in Shearman's valley, not many miles 
from the present seat of government. At that time the 
Indians marauded all around the blockhouse at Harris's 
ferry" — now Harrisburg. 

John Churchman, the public Friend, also saw those 
dead bodies, and has thus spoken of them : '• The In- 
dians having burnt several houses on the frontiers, and 
also at Gradenhutten in Northampton county, and mur- 



OF OLDEN TIME. 203 

dered and scalped some of the inhabitants, two or three 
of the dead bodies were brought to Philadelphia in a 
wagon, in the time of the General Meeting of Friends 
there in December, with intent to animate the people 
to unite in preparations for war on the Indians. They 
were carried along the streets, many people following, 
cursing the Indians, and also the Quakers, because they 
would not join in war for their destruction. The sight 
of the dead bodies, and the outcry of the people, were 
very afflicting and shocking." 

With the bodies came the " frontier inhabitants, and 
surrounding the assembly room, required immediate 
support." 

The excitement in the assembly ran high, between 
those who resisted and those who advocated means for 
the emergency. Out door interest, too, at the same 
time, was great ; for the citizens of Philadelphia offer, 
by subscription, and by proclamation, 700 dollars for 
the heads of Shingas and Captain Jacobs, Delaware 
chiefs — gone over to the interests of their enemies. 
Among the wonders of that day for us now to contem- 
plate, but of little notoriety then, was the presence of 
" Colonel Washington," on a mission from Virginia 
concerning the Indians. Little did he, or any of them 
of that colonial day, regard him as the future president 
of a new and great nation. 

In the next year, the scourge fell heavy upon the In- 
dians ; for Colonel Armstrong burnt their town, and 
destroyed their people at Kittaning — a great affair in 
that day. To commemorate it, a medal was struck, 
and swords and plate were distributed at the expense 
of the city to the officers, &c. 



204 HISTORIC TALES 

As a closing article to these Indian recitals, we 
know of nothing so striking in the contrast between 
the present and the past, as the affecting narrative, 
published by Crooshank in 1784, of the capture of the 
Gilbert family, (of fourteen persons,) formerly of By- 
berry township, seized and borne off by eleven Indians, 
as late as the year 1780, from their residence on the 
Mahony creek, running into the Lehigh, in Northamp- 
ton county, and thence making their unmolested jour- 
ney of five hundred miles, in twenty-six days, to Niaga- 
ra ! When we rpflect that this fact occurred on this 
side of the now celebrated Mauch Chunk coal mines, 
within a present day's ride of Philadelphia ; and consi- 
der that their home then was as ^frontier settlers i^"^ 
that their houses and mills could be then burnt down in 
full daylight, without any neighbours to be alarmed 
and to rescue them ; we cannot but perceive and won- 
der at the subsequent advances in cultivation and im- 
provement, through all the intermediate country. Then 
it was almost universally an uncultivated wilderness, 
and now enlivened every where with prosperous vil- 
lages and towns, and enriched with fruitful fields. The 
whole country is now traversed with turnpikes and 
canals, and the travelling routes animated with a busy 
population. Truly the rapid transition fr^ our *' wil- 
derness state," to " the garden and the fruitful field," 
is wonderful. Even while I write, some of the family, 
so captured, are still alive ; and one of them, whom I 
saw lately in Byberry, full of animation and health, 
talked over the incidents of their three years' absence 
in captivity, with most heart-stirring sensibility. Truly 
it is strange to talk of captives — still among us — so 



OP OLDEN TIME. 205 

near our present homes, even while our country, to the 
present generation, looks as if it had been settled and 
improved for ages. 

THE PAXTANG BOYS AND INDIAN MASSACRE. 

This was a story of deep interest and much excite- 
ment in its day, the year lTd4. It long remained quite 
as stirring and affecting, as a tale of woe or of terror, as 
any of the recitals, in more modern times, of the recol- 
lections of that greater event, the war of independence. 
The Indians, on whom the outrage was committed by 
those memorable outlaws, were friendly, unoffending, 
Christian Indians, dwelHng about the country in Lan- 
caster county, and the remnant of a once greater race, 
even in that neighbourhood where they had been so 
cruelly afflicted : for instance, in 1701, a letter of Isaac 
Norris, (preserved in the Logan MSS.) speaks thus, to 
wit: "I have been to Susquehanna, where I met the 
governor ; we had a roundabout journey, and well 
traversed the wilderness ; we lived nobly at the king's 
palace in Conostogoe.'' " They once had there (says 
J. Logan) a considerable towne," called Indian town. 

In 1764, under an alarm of intended massacre, four- 
teen being previously killed on Conestogoe, the Indians 
took shelter in Lancaster, and for their belter security 
they were placed under the bolts and bars of the prison ; 
but at mid-day a party on horseback, from the country, 
rode through the streets to the prison, and there forcibly 
entered and killed unresisting men and women on the 
spot ! The citizens of Lancaster were much blamed for 
so tamely suffering such a breach of their peace. No- 
thing was there done to apprehend the perpetrators. In 
18 



206 • HISTORIC TALES 

the mean time, other Indians in amity with us, hearing 
of the cruelty to their brethren, sought refuge in Phila- 
delphia, which when the Paxtang boys knew, being ex- 
cited to more daring and insolence by their former suf- 
ferance, like blood-hounds, stimulated to a passion for 
more blood by the previous taste, they forthwith re- 
solved on marching down to Philadelphia to destroy the 
remainder of the afflicted race, and to take vengeance 
also on all their friends and abettors there. They were 
undoubtedly Christian professors, used Bible phrases, 
talked of God's commanded vengeance on the heathen, 
and that the saints should inherit the earth, <i;c. They 
had even writers to plead their religious cause in Phila- 
delphia ! ! ! 

The news of their approach, which outrun them, was 
greatly magnified ; so that " every mother's son and 
child" were half crazed with fear, and even the men 
looked for a hard and obstinate struggle ; for even 
among their own citizens there were not wanting of 
those who, having been incensed by the late Indian war, 
thought almost any thing too good for an Indian. The 
Paxtang boys, to the amount of several hundred, armed 
with rifles, and clothed with hunting shirts, affecting 
the rudest and severest manners, came in two divisions 
as far as Germantown, and the opposite bank of the 
Schuylkill, where they finally entered into affected ne- 
gotiations with the citizens, headed by Benjamin Frank- 
lin, and returned home, terrifying the country as they 
went. 

In the mean time the terrified Indians sought their 
refuge in Philadelphia, having with them their Moravian 
minister. They were at first conducted to the barracks 



OF OLDEN TIME. 



207 



in the Northern Liberties by the order of the governor. 
But the Highlanders there refused them shelter ; and 
the Indians stood several hours exposed to the revilings 
of scoffers. This viras in the cold of December. They 
were thence sent to Province Island, afterwards by boats 
to League Island ; then they were recalled and sent to 
New York. In returning through Philadelphia they 
held their worship and took their breakfast in the Mora- 
vian church in Bread street. William Logan, and Jo- 
seph Fox, the barrack master, who gave them blankets, 
accompanied them as far as Trenton. A company of 
seventy Highlanders were their guard as far as Amboy, 
where they were stopt by orders from General Gage ; 
they then returned back to the Philadelphia barracks. 
The alarm of the Paxtang boys being near, at night 
too, the city is voluntarily illuminated ; alarm bells ring, 
and citizens run for arms, and hasten to the barracks ! 
Many young Quakers joined the defenders at the bar- 
racks, where they quickly threw up intrenchments. Dr. 
Franklin, and other gentlemen who went out to meet 
the leaders, brought them into the city, that they might 
point out among the Indians the alleged guilty ; but 
they could show none. They, however, perceived that 
the defence was too formidable, and they affected to 
depart satisfied. 

The Indians remained there several months, and held 
regular Christian worship. In time they were greatly 
afflicted with small-pox, and fifty-six of their number 
now rest among the other dead, beneath the surface of 
the beautiful " Washington Square." 

In the spring, these Indians were conducted by Mo- 
ravian missionaries, via Bethlehem and Wyoming, and 



208 HISTORIC TALES 

made their settlement on the Susquehanna, near to 
Wyalusing creek. There they ate wild potatoes in a 
time of scarcity. 

No good succeeded to the wretches. They were well 
remembered by old Mr. Wright, long a member in the 
Assembly from Columbia. He used to tell at Charles 
Norris's, where he staid in session time, that he had 
survived nearly the whole of them, and that they gene- 
rally came to untimely or suffering deaths. 

MISCELLANEA. 

In the year 1755, the votes of the Assembly, vol. 4, 
gives some proceedings concerning the Shawnese, which 
show that their chief once held a conference with Wil- 
liam Penn, under the great tree at Shackamaxon, a fact 
to which their talks refer. 

About the year 1759, advertisements often appeared 
in the gazettes, describing children recovered from the 
Indians, and requesting their friends to come and take 
them home. Several are described as having sustained 
some injury ; and in many cases can only tell their bap- 
tismal names, and the same of their parents. 

In 1762, a number of white children, unclaimed, were 
given up by the Indians at Lancaster, and were bound 
out by order of the governor. 

The gazettes of the year 1768-9, contain such fre- 
quent and various recitals of the havoc and cruelties of 
the incensed Indians on the frontiers, as would, if se- 
lected, make quite a book of itself. Of the numerous 
calamities, Colonel Boquet, who commanded a regiment 
of Highlanders, and was at Fort du Quesne (Pittsburgh) 
after the peace of 1763, gives a very affecting recital of 



OP OLDEN TIME. 209 

the delivery up to him of all the prisoners surrendered 
by the Indians. Husbands went hundreds of miles, in 
hopes of finding lost wives or children. The collection 
amounted to several hundred ; and the sight of seeing 
husbands and wives, rushing into each other's arms, and 
children claimed by their parents, made the joy of all 
such, extreme ! There was also the mourning of others, 
who hoped to find relatives ; but neither finding nor 
hearing of them, made much lamentation. There were 
also Indians, who had adopted all those persons, and 
loved them as their children or relatives, and having 
then to give them up, showed great signs of distress. 
Some young Indians had become passionately fond of 
some young women, and some few women had formed 
attachments for them. The Indians loaded their friends 
at their departure with their richest gifts ; thus proving 
they had hearts of tenderness, even to prisoners. 



THE PIRATES. 



A bucaniering race — 

The dregs and feculence of every land. 

The story of the pirates had been, in early times, one 
of deep interest and stirring wonder to our forefathers ; 
so much so, that the echo of their recitals, far as we 
have been long since removed from their fears, have not 
yet ceased to vibrate upon our ears. Who among us 
of goodly years but has heard something of the names 
18* 



210 



HISTORIC TALES 



and piracies of Kid and Blackbeard 1 They have indeed 
much of the mist of antiquity about them ; for none re- 
member the original tales truly, and all have ceased to 
read, for none know where to find, the book of " the 
History of the Pirates," as published by William Brad- 
ford, in New York, in 1724. That book I have never 
been able to procure, although I have some conception 
of it and its terrifying pictures, as once seen and read 
by my mother when a child. It had every character of 
the marvellous, surely, when it contained notices of the 
lives of two females pirates — even of Mary Reed and 
Anne Bonny! 

CAPTAIN KID. 

Captain Kid (Robert) used to be the earliest name of 
terror along our coast, although I believe he never com- 
mitted any excesses near our borders, or on our vessels ; 
but partisans in his name were often named and dreaded. 
What countryman he was does not appear, but his re- 
sidence appears to have been in New York before his 
piracies were known, where he had a wife and child. 
He most probably had been a successful privateersman, 
possessing, then the friendship of Governor Fletcher, 
Mr. Nicolls, and Col. Robert Livingston ; the latter of 
whom recommended him to the crown " as a bold and 
honest man to suppress the prevailing piracies in the 
American seas." It appears on record, at New York, 
as early as March 1691, that Captain Kid then reclaimed 
a pressed seaman ; and on the 17th of August, of the 
same year, he is recorded as bringing in his prize and 
paying the king his tenth, and the governor his fifteenth, 
of course showing he was once every way a legalised 



OF OLDEN TIME. 2 1 1 

man among them. His being called " bold," probably 
arose from numerous acts of successful daring which 
made his name renowned while on the side of the law, 
and equally a subject of terror when openly acknow- 
ledged a pirate. It appears from a pamphlet of facts in 
the case, set forth by the friends of the Earl of Bello- 
mont about the year 1702, that Col. Robert Livingston 
and Captain Kid being both in London in 1694, the 
former recommended him to the crown officers, and 
also became his security, by whom he received com- 
mand of the Adventure galley, and sailed from Plymouth 
in February, 1695. He came out direct to New York,* 
thence went to Madeira, Madagascar, and the Red sea. 
In the latter he began his piracies, capturing several 
vessels, and finally the Quedah Merchant, of 400 tons ; 
with her he came back to the West Indies, where leav- 
ing her in charge of one Bolton, he came in a sloopt to 
Long Island sound, and made many deposits on shore. 
While in the sound he sent one Emmet to the Earl of 
Bellomont, then transferred from the government at 
New York to that at Boston, to negotiate terms of re- 
conciliation. The governor assured him of fair treat- 
ment, in such terms of equivocacy as ensnared him so 
far that he landed the first of June, 1699, was then ar- 
rested and sent home to England for trial. Finally, he 
was executed at Execution Dock, the 23d of March, 

* The Modern Universal History (edition, 1763,) says he left 
off cruising along New York and New England, because of non 
success. 

+ The word sloop often meant a war vessel, without reference to 
the manner of her rigging. 



2 1 2 HISTORIC TALES 

1704, and so gave rise to the once notable " song of 
Captain Kid." Col. Livingston again attempted to be- 
friend him after his arrest at Boston, by offering some 
suggestions for his relief. He was one fifih owner of 
his original enterprise, in concert with some noblemen 
in England. The whole was an unofficial adventure of 
crown officers, possessing, however, the sanction though 
not the commission of the king. The expedition itself 
being thus of an anomalous character, excited consider- 
able political enquiry in England, and finally became, 
after Kid's death, the subject of parliamentary investiga- 
tion. The particulars more at large have been pre- 
served by me in my MS. book of Historical Collections, 
given to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Smith's 
History of New York has some few facts concerning 
him ; see 4to edition, p. 91. A writer at Albany, in 
modern times, says they had tlie tradition that Kid once 
visited Coeymans and Albany ; and at a place two miles 
from the latter it was said he deposited money and 
treasure in the earth. Two families, now of wealth 
and respectability, of New York, have been named to 
me as original settlers at Oyster Bay on Long Island, 
who became suddenly enriched by their connection with 
Kid's piracies. The story was, that they deserted from 
his sloop above mentioned, in the sound, after seeing the 
treasure deposited ; that the chief was arrested, and 
the expedition destroyed, and they profited by the ex- 
clusive gain. 

Many incidental facts of that day show that the pirates 
often had their friends and accomplices on shore, acting 
not unlike the armed vessels off our coasts in the time 



OF OLDEN TIME. 



213 



of the French revolution> all of whom seemed to have 
accurate knowledge of fit prizes to sail, or expected to 
arrive. The very circumstance of Kid's having a family 
in New York inferred his family alliances, and perhaps, 
if we knew all things, we might see, even now, some 
of his wealthy descendants. 

A letter from Jonathan Dickinson, then at Port Royal, 
dated the 5th of 4mo. 1699, to his wife then in Phila- 
delphia, says, " Many pirates are, and have been upon 
the coast. About two days since came news of Cap- 
tain Kid's being upon our coast ; being come from the 
East Indies with a great booty, but wants provisions. 
He is in a ship which he took fi*om the natives of those 
parts, having thirty-odd guns, with twenty-five white 
men and thirty negroes. There is gone hence, two 
days since, Ephraim Pilkerton in a sloop well manned 
to go and take him." Probably the reason of so few 
men on board the " Quedah" was, that Kid himself was 
absent in the sloop before mentioned. 

An original letter, which I have seen, from John 
Askew in London, dated 22d of 3 mo. 1701, to Jonathan 
Dickinson, contains a post scriptum intimating the finale 
of this bold sea-rover — saying, *' Captain Kid, with some 
other pirates are to execute to-morrow at Execution 
Dock, in Wapping — Kid, to be gibbetted at Tillberry 
Fort, Gravesend." 

As a sequel to the whole, came out the ballad song 
of Captain Kid, a great rarity in the present day, al- 
though the pensive tones are still known to some, and 
have been latterly revived in much bad taste among the 
eccentric camp-meeting hymns ; singing, " Farewell ye 



214 



HISTORIC TALES 



blooming youth," ^c. For the use of the curious, both 
the facts and the style of the pirate song are here pre- 
served, from the recollections of an ancient person, to 
wit : 

1. My name was Captain Kid, ) 
When I sail'd, when 1 sail'd, ^ 



My name was Captain Kid, 
And so wickedly I did, 
God's laws I did forbid 
When I sail'd, when I sail 



ii-dj"^- 



2. My name, &c. 

I roam'd from sound to somid, 
And many a ship I found, 
And them I sunk or burn'd, 
When I sail'd, when I sail'd. 

3. My name, &c. 

I murder'd William Moore, 
And laid him in his gore, 
Not many leagues from shore. 
When I sail'd, when I sail'd. 

4. My name, &c. 
Farewell to young and old, 
All jolly seamen bold ; 
You're welcome to my gold — 
For I must die, I must die. 

5. My name, &c. 
Farewell to Limnon town, 
The pretty girls all round; 
No pardon can be found, 
And I must die, I must die 



OF OLDEN TIME. 215 

6. My name, &c. 

Farewell, for I must die, 
Then to eternity. 
In hideous misery, 
I must lie, I must lie.* 

BLACKBEABD. 

It would appear as if none of the pirates so much 
agitated the minds of our proper ancestors as Black- 
beard ; his very name raising ideas of something terrific 
and cruel. His proper name was Teach, who acquired 
the cognomen as possessing in his person an alarming 
black beard, probably cherished for purposes of effect 
to terrify his enemy, and as in full keeping with his 
black or bloody flag. His depredations in our proper 
seas woi-e considerably more modern than the piracies of 
Kid ; and after Blackboard's career was ended in 1718, 
there were many, as we shall presently show, to succeed 
him. But we have, however, mention of a piracy, even 
earlier than Kid's known piracies, even as early as his 
privateering ; for very early in the rise of our infant 
city, one Brown, of the Assembly, a son-in-law of the 
deputy governor, Colonel Markham, was refused his 
seat in the house on his alleged connection with the pi- 
rates. t They doubtless found such a defenceless place 

* Another piece of ancient ballad poetry, which we should be 
glad to see, is one called " Blackbeard," which once had a great 
run in New England ; and, if revived, would be doubly enhanced 
to us, as the earliest poetic effort of Benjamin Franklin when a 
boy — " Composed and sold about (as he informs us) by himself!" 
Who has this relic? 

t Wilcox PhiUps, who kept the inn for many years at the east 
end of the long stone bridge leading to the Kensington market 



216 HISTORIC TALES 

a ready market to vend some of their spoil, and the naval 
regulations could have had little or no means to prevent 
clandestine commerce. The bay and river doubtless 
furnished them many a secure place in which they could 
refit, or provide their necessary supplies. Perhaps as 
jolly sailors, full of money and revelry, they sometimes 
found places even of welcome, from those who might 
choose to connive at their real character. We find, as 
early as 1692, that one Babit and others stole a sloop 
from Philadelphia for purposes of piracy, and also com- 
mitted some thefts in the river. It was, however, but a 
small aflfair, and yet small as it was, it much excited the 
town. 

In the year 1701, such were the apprehensions from 
pirates, from their depredations on the sea coast, that 
watches were appointed to give alarm in Sussex. 

Mrs. Bulah Coates, (once Jacquet,) the grandmother 
of Samuel Coates, Esq., now an aged citizen, told him 
that she had seen and sold goods to the celebrated 
Blackboard, she then keeping a store in High street, 
No. 77, where Beninghove now owns and dwells, a little 
west of Second street. He bought freely and paid well. 
She then knew it was him, and so did some others. But 
they were afraid to arrest him, lest his crew, when they 
should hear of it, should avenge his cause, by some 
midnight assault. He was too politic to bring his vessel 
or crew within immediate reach ; and at the same time 



place, (who would now be about 100 years of age,) told an aged 
friend of mine that his grandfather, who lived on or about that 
spot, used to tell Iiim that a pirate had actually wintered his vessel 
in the Cohocksink creek, a little above that bridge. 



OF OLDEN TIME. 2 1 7 

was careful to give no direct offence in any of the settle- 
nnents, where they wished to be regarded as visiters and 
purchasers, &c. 

Blackbeard was also seen at sea by the mother of the 
late Dr. Hugh Williamson of New York ; she was then 
in her youth, coming to this country, and their vessel was 
captured by him. The very aged John Hutton, who 
died in Philadelphia in 1792, well remembered to have 
seen Blackbeard at Barbadoes after he had come in 
under the Act of Oblivion. This was but shortly be- 
fore he made his last cruise, and was killed, in 1718. 
The present aged Benjamin Kite has told me, that he 
had seen in his youth an old black man, nearly one 
hundred years of age, who had been one of Blackbeard's 
pirates, by impressment. He lived many years with 
George Grey's family, the brewer in Chesnut street, 
near to Third street. The same Mr. Kite's grandfather 
told him he well knew one Crane, a Swede, at the upper 
ferry on the Schuylkill, who used to go regularly in his 
boat to supply Blackbeard's vessel at State Island. He 
also said it was known that that freebooter used to visit 
an inn in High street, near to Second street, with his 
sword by his side. There is a traditionary story, that 
Blackbeard and his crew used to visit and revel at 
Marcus Hook, at the house of a Swedish woman, whom 
he was accustomed to call Marcus, as an abbreviation 
of Margaret. 

How long Blackbeard exercised his piracies before 
the years 1717 and '18, which terminated his profligate 
career, 1 am not enabled to say, but in this time the 
MS. papers in the Logan collection make frequent men- 
tion of him and others, as in that hateful pursuit, to wit : 
19 



218 HISTORIC TALES 

In 1717, Jonathan Dickinson at Philadelphia, writes, 
saying, ** The pirates have not yet quitted our coast, 
and have taken one of our vessels at the cape, in which 
you happily did not ship my wine." 

In August, 1718, he says, " We have been perplexed 
by pirates on our coast and at our capes, who plundered 
many of our vessels, also several from Virginia, Mary- 
land, and New York, and some of the piratical crews are 
come into our province to lurk and cover themselves." 

In March, 1718, he writes — " We have account from 
Virginia, that two small sloops fitted out there, and 
manned by the men-of-war's men against Captain Teach, 
alias Blackboard, conquered his vessel after a bloody 
battle, and carried Teach's head into Virginia. We 
have heard too of Major Bonet and his crew, with ano- 
ther crew, were hanged in South Carolina ; and of one 
Taylor and his crew at Providence. But this latter 
Avants confirmation. How these sort of men have fared 
in other parts we wait to hear. For these two sum- 
mers they have greatly annoyed our trade. They pil- 
laged one of my vessels, and destroyed the letters." 

In another letter he writes and says, " Colonel Spots- 
wood, governor of Virginia, formed a design with the 
captain of a small man-of-war, to send out two of their 
country sloops with about fifty men, to attack Captain 
Teach, alias Blackbeard, a pirate then at North Caro- 
lina, whom they took, and brought his head into Vir- 
ginia, after a bloody battle and most of them killed and 
wounded,"* — he also adds a sentence of pecuhar cha- 

* James Logan, says Governor Spotswood, had before sent on 
to Philadelphia to get proclamations printed, offering a generous 
reward for pirates. 



OF OLDEN TIME. 219 

racter, saying, *' I have to remark, that papers and let- 
ters taken in Blackbeard's possession, will strongly- 
affect some persons in the government of North Caro- 
lina!" 

In 1717, James Logan writes, saying, " We have 
been extremely pestered with pirates who now swarm 
in America, and increase their numbers by almost every 
vessel they take — [compelling them to enter by coer- 
cion or otherwise.] If speedy care be not taken, they 
will become formidable, being now at least 1500 strong. 
They have very particularly talked of visiting this 
place, many of them being well acquainted with it, 
and some born in it, for they are generally all English, 
and therefore know our government can make no 
defence." 

In the same year he writes to the governor of New 
York, saying, " We have been very much disturbed the 
last week' [in October] by the pirates. They have 
taken and plundered six or seven vessels to or from this 
place ; some thay took to their own use, and some they 
dismissed after plundering them. Some of our people 
having been several days on board of them, had much 
free discourse with them. They say they are about 
800 strong at Providence, and I know not how many 
at Cape Fear, where they are making a settlement. 
Captain Jennings, they say, is their governor in chief, 
and heads them in their settlement. The sloop that 
came on our coast had about 130 men, all stout fel- 
lows, all English, and double armed. They said they 
waited for their consort of twenty-six guns, when they 
designed to visit Philadelphia I Some of our masters 
say they know almost every man on board, most of 



220 HISTORIC TALES 

them having been lately in the river ; their commander 
is Teach, who was here a mate from Jamaica about 
two years ago." In another letter he says, " They are 
now busy about us to lay in their stores of provisions 
for the winter." 

Such was the picture of piracy, which once distress- 
ed and alarmed our forefathers, and shows in itself 
much of the cause of the numerous vague tales we still 
occasionally hear of Blackbeard and the pirates. Heie 
we have direct fact of his then being on the coast, well 
armed, with a crew of 130 men, and waiting the arrival 
of another vessel, when he meditated a visit of rapine 
and plunder on Philadelphia itself! Think, too, of his 
crew being men generally known to captains in Phila- 
delphia — some of them born among us, others had been 
lately in the river, and the whole busily concerting 
schemes to lay in their winter supply of provisions ; 
and all this through the assistance on shore of former 
pirates among them, who had been pardoned by the Act 
of Oblivion, and on the whole produced such favour to 
their object, even in Philadelphia itself, surpassing any 
other town ! Think, too, of the alleged force of the 
whole concentrated outlaws — such as 800 in Provi- 
dence, and so many at Cape Fear, in North Carolina, 
as to have their own governor ! 

OTHER PIRATES. 

The death of Blackbeard and his immediate com- 
panions appears to have had no visible restraint on the 
spirit of desperate adventure in others. It doubtless 
broke the connection with us on shore ; but as gene« 



OF OLDEN TIME. 221 

ral sea-rovers, there still continued later accounts of 
several, roaming and ravaging on the high seas, to 
wit : 

In the gazettes of 1720, there is frequent mention of 
our vessels encountering " pirates" in the West Indies. 
They are pillaged, but not murdered ; nor otherwise 
so barbarously maltreated as now. 

In 1721, it is observed that '' the pirates" act gene- 
rally under the colours of Spain and France. " We 
have advice that Captain Edwards, the famous pirate, 
is still in the West Indies, where they have done incredi- 
ble damage ;" and at the same time the Gazette says, 
" A large sloop has been seen from hence (off Cape 
May) cruising on and off for ten days together, sup- 
posed to be a pirate ;" and three weeks later she is 
mentioned as running ten leagues, up the bay, and 
thence taking out a large prize. 

In 1722, mention is made of a pirate brigantine 
which appears off and at Long Island, commanded by 
one Lowe, a Bostonian. They had captured a vessel 
with five women in her, and sent them into port in safety 
in another vessel. His name often afterwards occurs as 
very successful ; at one time he took Honduras, &,c. One 
Evans, another pirate, is also named. While Lowe was 
off Long Island, several vessels were promptly fitted 
out against him, but none brought back any renown. 

In 1723, the above " Captain Lowe, the pirate, and 
his consort, Harris, came near the Hook ; there they 
got into action with his majesty's ship the Grey- 
hound. The two pirates bore the black flag, and were 
commanded by the celebrated Lowe." The Grey- 
hound captured Harris's vessel, having thirty-seven 
19* 



222 HISTORIC TALES 

whites and six blacks, prisoners ; but Lowe's vessel 
escaped, having on board, it is said, £150,000 in gold 
and silver. The names of the prisoners are published, 
and all appear to be American or English. They were 
tried and all executed, not long after, at Long Island. 
What a hanging day for forty-four persons at once ! 

Before this action they had probably been near Am- 
boy, &c., as it was just before announced that " two 
pirate vessels looked into Perth Amboy, and into New 
York." 

On the return of Captain Solgard to New York, of 
the Greyhound, he is presented the freedom of the city, 
in a gold snuff box. Lowe is afterwards heard of as 
making prizes of twenty French vessels at Cape Breton. 
He is stated as peculiarly cruel, (since his fight above,) 
to Englishmen, cutting and slitting their ears and noses. 
There is also named one Lowder, another pirate on the 
banks. 

In 1724, Lowe, the pirate, lately came across a Por- 
tuguese, and plundered her. His vessel is a ship of 
thirty guns, called the Merry Christmas ; he has ano- 
ther ship in company as his consort. Captain Ellison, 
of New York, was taken in sight of Barbadoes by Sprigg, 
the pirate, by whom he was well treated, though plun- 
dered some. Soon after, the Gazette announces that 
it is said that Sprigg, the pirate, is to come on our coast 
to the eastward, to careen. He is in the Old Squirrel 
man of war, which being sold for a merchantman, was 
taken by Lowe, and run away with by Sprigg and 
others of Lowe's crew. He says, when he gets more 
men he will come and take Captain Solgard, with whom 
he before fought off the Hook, and who was at this 



OF OLDEN TIME. 223 

time again out in the Greyhound, cruising along the 
coast for pirates. 

The same year, 1724, it is announced, that they hear 
from Honduras by Captain Smith, that " Sprigg, the 
pirate," is tliere in the Bachelor's Delight, of twenty- 
four guns, in company with Skipton in the Royal For- 
tune, of twenty-two guns — the same which had been 
commanded by Lowe, but his crew mutinying, set him 
ashore. Skipton is a north country man, and merciful. 
They promise to visit our coasts in the spring. 

In 1725, it is said that Sprigg, the pirate, was put 
ashore by his men in the West Indies, whereby he was 
taken prisoner to Jamaica. From Barbadoes it is heard 
that Line, who was commander of his consort, was 
taken into Curragoa. There they were paraded to the 
prison, with their black silk flag. Line had lost his 
nose and an eye, and the wounds of his men stanh as 
they walked. Line confessed he had killed thirty-seven 
masters of vessels ! Possibly it was boasting over much. 
Skipton, the pirate, with eighty men, is stated to have 
been taken by his majesty's ship the Diamond, in the 
bay of Honduras, together with Joseph Cooper,* ano- 
ther pirate vessel. When one of these vessels saw she 
must surrender, the captain with many of his men went 
into the cabin and blew themselves up. 

This year of 1725 appears to have been fatal to the 
pirates. Their career seemed almost every where run 
out, and terrible and inglorious their end. " The way 
of the transgressor is hard." After this, the former 



* Joe Cooper was before mentioned as a pirate, known and 
presented by the grand jury at Philadelphia in 1718. 



224 HISTORIC TALES 

frequent mention of pirates, in almost every weekly pa- 
per, subsides. The peaceful and honest mariners na 
longer fear to traverse the ocean. There was still de- 
lays of justice to some, when, as late as October, 1731, 
Captain Macferson and four others were tried for piracy 
and hanged. 



THE GERMANS. 



This hardy, frugal, and industrious portion of our 
population in Pennsylvania, so numerous and exclusive 
in places as to preserve their manners and language 
unaltered, are so often the subject of remark in the 
early MSS. which I have seen in the Logan collection, 
&c. as to deserve a separate notice, to wit : 

When the Germans first came into the country, save 
those who were Friends and settled in Germantown in 
1682-3, it is manifest there was a fear they would not 
be acceptable inhabitants ; for James Logan, in 1717, 
remarks, " We have of late great numbers of Palatines 
poured in upon us without any recommendation or 
notice, which gives the country some uneasiness, for 
foreigners do not so weir among us as our own people,'^ 
the English. 

In 1719, Jonathan Dickinson remarks, "We are daily 
expecting ships from London which bring over Pala- 
tines, in number about six or seven hundred. We had 
a parcel who came about five years ago, who purchased 
land about sixty miles west of Philadelphia, and prove 



or OLDEN TIME. 225 

quiet and industrious. Some few came from Ireland 
lately, and more are expected thence. This is besides 
our common supply from Wales and England. Our 
friends do increase mightily, and a great people there 
is in this wilderness country, which is fast becoming a 
fruitful field." 

Kalm, the Swedish traveller, here in 1748, says the 
Germans all preferred to settle in Pennsylvania, be- 
cause they had been ill-treated by the authorities in 
New York, whither they first inclined to settle. Many 
had gone to that colony about the year 1709, [say 1711,] 
and made settlements on their own lands, which were 
invaded under various pretexts. They took great um- 
brage, and beat some of the persons who were disposed 
to dispossess them. Some of their leading men were 
seized by the government. The remainder in disgust 
left the country, and proceeded to settle in Pennsyl- 
vania. After that, even those who arrived at New 
York would not be persuaded to tarry, but all pushed 
on to Pennsylvania, where a better protection was 
granted to their rights and privileges. This morti- 
fied the New Yorkers, but they could not remove the 
first unfavourable impressions. As many as twelve 
thousand came to Philadelphia in 1749. 

This emigration from New York to Pennsylvania is 
further incidentally explained by James Logan in his 
MS. letters to the proprietaries. In writing to them 
in the year 1724, he manifests considerable disquietude 
at the great numbers coming among them, so numerous 
that he apprehends the Germans may even feel dis- 
posed to usurp the country to themselves. He speaks 
of the lands to the northward, (meaning Tulpehocken,) 



226 HISTORIC TALES 

as overrun by the unruly Germans,^-the same who, in 
the year 1711, arrived at New York at the queen's 
expense, and were invited hither in 1722 (as a state 
policy) by Sir William Keilh when he was at Albany, 
for purposes of strengthening his political influence by 
favouring them. 

In another letter of 1725, he calls them crowds of 
bold and indigent strangers from Germany, many of 
whom had been soldiers. All these go into the best 
vacant tracts, and seize upon them as places of common 
spoil. He says they rarely approach him on their ar- 
rival to propose to purchase ; and when they are sought 
out and challenged for their rights of occupancy, they 
allege it was published in Europe that we wanted and 
solicited for colonists, and had a superabundance of 
land, and therefore they had come without the means to 
pay. The Germans in aftertime embroiled with the 
Indians at Tulpehocken, threatening a serious affair.* 
In general, those who sat down without titles acquired 
enough in a ^ew years to buy them, and so generally 
they were left unmolested. Logan speaks of 100,000 
acres of land so possessed, and including the Irish 
squatters also. 

"Bold master-spirits, where they touch'd they gain'd 
Ascendance — where they fix'd their foot, they reign'd !" 

The character of the Germans then known to him, he 
slates, are many of them a surly people — divers of them 
Papists, — the men well armed, and, as a body, a warlike, 

* It was at Tulpehocken, Conrad Weiser, a German, so often 
employed as Indian interpreter, was settled and died — say at 
present Womelsdorf, where he had his farm. 



OF OLDEN TIME. 227 

morose race. In 1727, he states that 6000 Germans 
more are expected, and also many from Ireland ; and 
these emigrations he hopes may be prevented in future 
by act of parliament, else he fears these colonies will, 
in time, be lost to the crown ! — a future fact. 

In 1729, he speaks of being glad to observe the in- 
flux of strangers, as likely to attract the interference of 
parliament ; for truly, says he, they have danger to ap- 
prehend for a country where not even a militia exists 
for government support. To arrest in some degree 
their arrival, the assembly assessed a tax of twenty 
shillings a head on new arrived servants. 

In another letter he says, the numbers from Germany 
at this rate will soon produce a German colony here, 
and perhaps such a one as Britain once received from 
Saxony in the fifth century. He even states as among 
the apprehended schemes of Sir William Keith, the 
former governor, that he, Harland, and Gould, have 
had sinister projects of forming an independent province 
in the West, to the westward of the Germans, towards 
the Ohio— probably west of the mountains — and to be 
supplied by his friends among the Palatines and Irish, 
among whom was his chief popularity at that time. 



THE IRISH. 



The Irish emigrants did not begin to come into Penn- 
sylvania until about the year 1719. Those which did 
come were generally from the North of Ireland. Such 



228 HISTORIC TALES 

as came out first generally settled at and near the dis- 
puted Maryland line. James Logan, writing of them 
to the proprietaries, in 1724, says they have generally 
taken up the southern lands, [meaning in Lancaster 
county, towards the Maryland line ;] and as they rarely 
approached him to propose to purchase, he calls them 
bold and indigent strangers, saying as their excuse, 
when challenged for titles, that we had solicited for 
colonists and they had come accordingly. They were, 
however, understood to be a tolerated class, exempt 
from rents by an ordinance of 1720, in consideration 
of their being a frontier people, forming a kind of cor- 
don of defence, if needful. They were soon called bad 
neighbours to the Indians, treating them disdainfully, 
and finally were the same race who committed the out- 
rage called the Paxtang massacre. These general ideas 
of them are found in the Logan MS. collection. Some 
of the data is as follows : 

In 1725, James Logan states, that there are as many 
as 100,000 acres of land possessed by persons (including 
Germans) who resolutely set down and improve it with- 
out any right to it ; and he is much at a loss to deter- 
mine how to dispossess them. 

In 1729, he expresses himself glad to find the parlia- 
ment is about to take measures to prevent the too free 
emigration to this country. In the mean time, the as- 
sembly had laid a restraining tax of twenty shillings a 
bead for every servant arriving ; but even this was 
evaded in the case of the arrival of a ship from Dublin 
with one hundred Papists and convicts, by landing them 
at Burlington, It looks, says he, as if Ireland is to 
send all its inhabitants hither, for last week not less 



OF OLDEN TIME. 229 

than six ships arrived, and every day two or three arrive 
also. The common fear is, that if they thus continue to 
come they will make themselves proprietors of the pro- 
vince. It is strange, says he, that they thus crowd 
where they are not wanted. But few besides convicts 
are imported thence.* The Indians themselves are 
alarmed at the swarms of strangers, and we are afraid 
of a breach between them — for the Irish are very rough 
to them. 

In 1730, he writes and complains of the Scotch Irish 
in an audacious and disorderly manner possessing them- 
selves about that time of the whole of Conestogo manor 
of 15,000 acres, being the best land in the country. In 
doing this by force, they alleged that " it was against 
the laws of God and nature, that so much land should 
be idle while so many Christians wanted it to labour on, 
and to raise their bread," &lc. The Paxtang boys were 
all great sticklers for religion and for scripture quota- 
tions against " the heathen !" They were, however, dis- 
possessed by the sheriff and his posse^ and their cabins, 
to the number of thirty, were burnt. This necessary 
violence was perhaps remembered with indignation, for 
only twenty-five years afterwards the Paxtang massacre 
began by killing the Christian unoffending Indians found 
in Conestogo. Those Irish were generally settled in 
Donegal. 

In another letter he writes, saying, I must own, from 
my own experience in the land office, that the settle- 
ment of five families from Ireland gives me more trouble 

* Augustus Gun, of Cork, advertised in the Philadelphia pa- 
per, that he had power from the mayor of Cork, for many years 
to procure servants for America. 
20 



230 



HISTORIC TALES 



than fifty of any other people. Before we were broke 
in upon, ancient Friends and first settlers lived happily; 
but now the case is quite altered, by strangers and de- 
bauched morals, &c. All this seems like hard measure 
dealt upon these specimens of " the land of generous 
natures ;" but we may be excused for letting him speak 
out, who was himself from the " Emerald Isle," where 
he had of course seen a belter race. 

His successor, Richard Peters, as secretary to the 
proprietaries, falls into similar dissatisfaction with them; 
for in his letter to them, of 1743, he says he went to 
Marsh creek, in Lancaster county, to warn off and dis- 
possess the squatters, and to measure the manor land. 
On that occasion, the people there, to about the number 
of seventy, assembled and forbid them to proceed, and 
on their persisting, they broke the chain and compelled 
them to retire. He had with him a sheriff and a ma- 
gistrate. They were afterwards indicted, became sub- 
dued, and made their engagements for leases. In most 
cases, the leases were so easy that they were enabled 
to buy the lands ere they expired. 



NEGROES AND SLAVES. 



" He finds his fellow guilty — of a skin 

Not colour'd like his own 1 — For such a cause 
Dooms and devotes him as his lawful prey." 

In the olden time, dressy blacks and dandy coloured 
beaux and belles, as we now see them issuing from 



OF OLDEN TIME. 23 I 

their proper churches, were quite unknown. Their 
aspirings and httle vanities have been rapidly growing 
since they got those separate churches, and have re- 
ceived their entire exemption from slavery. Once they 
submitted to the appellation of servants, blacks, or ne- 
groes ; but now they require to be called coloured peo- 
ple, and among themselves, their common call of salu- 
tation is — gentlemen and ladies. Twenty to thirty 
years ago, they were much humbler, more esteemed in 
their place, and more useful to themselves and others. 
As a whole, they show an overweening fondness for 
display and vainglory — fondly imitating the whites in 
processions and banners, and in the pomp and pageantry 
of Masonic and Washington societies, 6lc. With the 
kindest feelings for their race, judicious men wish them 
wiser conduct, and a better use of the benevolent feel- 
ings which induced their emancipation among us. 

We have happily been so long relieved from the 
curse of slavery, that it is scarcely known to the younger 
part of the community how many features we once pos- 
sessed of a slave-owning colony. 

The state of slavery in Pennsylvania was always of a 
mild character, not only from the favourable and mild 
feelings of the Friends in their behalf, but from the 
common regard they found in families in general where 
their deportment was commendable. Hector St. John, 
Esq., who wrote concerning the state of slavery in 
Pennsylvania as it was just before the period of the re- 
volution, says, " In Pennsylvania they enjoy as much 
liberty as their masters — are as well fed and as well 
clad ; and in sickness are tenderly taken care of — for, 
living under the same roof, they are in effect a part of 



232 HISTORIC TALES 

the family. Being the companions of their labours, 
and treated as such, they do not work more than our- 
selves, and think themselves happier than many of the 
lower class of whites. A far happier race among us, 
he adds, than those poor suffering slaves of the South." 

The first efforts ever made in Pennsylvania towards 
the emancipation of the blacks, proceeded from the So- 
ciety of Friends in Germantown, the most of whom, at 
that period, were emigrants from Germany. These in 
the year 1688, under the auspices of F. D. Pastorius, 
moved a petition or remonstrance to the Yearly Meet- 
ing of Friends, saying in effect, it was not Cliristian- 
like to buy and keep negroes. The meeting forebore 
then to give any positive judgment in the case. But 
enquiry was created. Cotemporary with this period, 
William Penn himself, whose light or reflections on the 
case were not equally awakened, says, in his letter of 
the 4th of 8 mo. 1685, to his steward, James Harrison, 
at Pennsbury, " It were better they were blacks, for 
then we might have them for life," intimating thereby, 
that his indented servants there were changed too 
often. 

[ have seen among the earliest pamphlets extant of 
Philadelphia publication, one from the Friends' Meet- 
ing of Philadelphia, of the 13th of 8 mo. 1693, giving 
'' exhortation and caution to Friends concerning buying 
and keeping negroes." The sum of the counsel was, 
that none should attempt " to buy except to set free." 
This little address contained many of the arguments 
now usually set forth against slavery. 

Before the revolution, it was a common incident in 
Philadelphia to send family servants to the jail to get 



OF OLDEN TIME. 233 

their dozen lashes, for acts of insubordination. This 
was done at the pleasure of the master, and was usually 
executed on receiving a written message from the 
owners. An old gentleman told me of a case which 
he witnessed:— A master sent his servant, "Hodge's 
Cato," with his letter, wherein he requested to have 
him well whipt. The black was shrewd, suspected it 
conveyed some ill to him, and fell upon a device to 
shun it. He stretched himself on the stall at the mar- 
ket house, near the prison, affecting to have been seized 
with violent cramps and pains in the bowels. When 
he had succeeded to excite the pity of some bystanders, 
he begged a black fellow near him to hurry away and 
deliver his letter, as it was a matter requiring haste. 
The appeal answered the purpose fully; for, maugre 
all his remonstrances, he received all the lashes bespoke 
for " the bearer." 

When slaves were purchased in early times with in- 
tention to be taken to other colonies, there was seen, 
even in Philadelphia, the odious spectacle of " the 
drove," tied two and two, passing through the city 
towards the country. Several of the aged have told 
me of witnessing such things even in the gentle city of 
Penn 1 

Many can still remember when the slaves were al- 
lowed the last days of the fairs for their jubilee, which 
they employed ("light-hearted wretches!") in dancing 
the whole afternoon in the present Washington Square, 
then a general burying ground — the blacks joyful above, 
while the sleeping dead reposed below ! In that field 
could be seen at once more than one thousand of both 
sexes, divided into numerous little squads, dancing, and 
20* 



234 HISTOEIC TALES 

singing " each in their own tongue,"' after the customs 
of their several nations in Africa. 

Finally, a discerning lady, who has witnessed '' the 
former years," and has seen the comparative happiness 
of the blacks — has felt, too, her strong affections and 
domestic relations to her family servants — thus speaks 
of her sense of the change produced in family comforts. 
" In the olden time, domestic comforts were not every 
day interrupted by the pride and profligacy of servants. 
The slaves of Philadelphia were a happier class of peo- 
ple than the free blacks of the present day generally 
are, who taint the very air by their vices, and exhibit 
every sort of wretchedness and profligacy in their dwell- 
ings. The former felt themselves to be an integral 
part of the family to which they belonged. They expe- 
rienced in all respects the same consideration and kind- 
ness as white servants, and they were faithful and con- 
tented." In truth, in numerous cases where they were 
freed, they still preferred to remain with their old 
masters. 



REDEMPTION SERVANTS. 



Numerous persons used to arrive every year from 
Germany and Ireland, who engaged themselves for a 
term of years to pay their passages. Some of them 
turned out frugal and industrious, and became in time 
a part of our wealthy citizens. In some few cases 
they appear to have been convicts from Ireland. In 



OF OLDEN TIME. 235 

one case, the servant was found to be a lord, and re- 
turned home to inherit his estate. The general facts 
are to the following effect, to wit : 

In 1722, the Palatine servants were disposed of at 
lOZ. each, for five years of servitude. About this time 
a MS. letter of Jonathan Dickinson says, '' Many who 
have come over under covenants for four years, are 
now masters of great estates." 

1728. An advertisement reads, " Lately imported, 
and to be sold cheap, a parcel of likely men and women 
servants." These were probably servants from Europe. 

1729. In New Castle government there arrived last 
year, says the Gazette, 4500 persons, chiefly from Ire- 
land ; and at Philadelphia, in one year, 267 English 
and Welsh, 43 Scotch, all servants, 1155 Irish, and 
243 Palatines, of whom none were servants. 

In 1737, an article appears in the Pennsylvania Ga- 
zette to the following effect, to wit: " An errant cheat 
detected at Annapolis 1 A vessel arrived there, bringing 
sixty-six indentures, signed by the mayor of Dublin, 
and twenty-two wigs, of such a make as if they were 
intended for no other use than to set out the convicts 
when they should go ashore." Thus these convicts 
were attempted, under fraudulent papers and decent 
wigs, to be put off as decent servants, and especially 
when surmounted with wigs ! Same time is advertised 
" for sale, a parcel of English servants from Bristol." 

In 1741, public information is given to merchants 
and captains, that Augustus Gun, of Cork, bellman, has 
power from the mayor there, to procure servants for 
America for these many years past. 

Such an advertisement, in a Philadelphia paper, was 



236 HISTORIC TALES 

of course an intimation that the mayor of Cork was 
willing to get off sundry culprits to the colonies. 

In 1750, some of our good citizens take alarm at the 
idea of having criminals, " unwhipt of justice," imposed 
upon them. They thought the offences of such, when 
among us, swelled our criminal list. One writes upon 
the subject and says, " When we see our papers filled 
so often with accounts of the most audacious robberies, 
the most cruel murders, and other villanies, perpetrated 
by convicts from Europe, what will become of our 
posterity! In what could Britain injure us more than 
emptying her jails on us ? What must we think of those 
merchants, who, for the sake of a little petty gain, will 
be concerned in importing and disposing of these 
abominable cargoes." From the tenor of the preceding 
article, it is probable they got premiums in some cases 
for taking off such unwelcome guests. In some cases, 
the severity of British laws pushed off young men, of 
good abilities, for very small offences, who made very 
capable clerks, storekeepers, &;c. among us. I have 
knowledge of tvv'o or three among us, even within my 
memory, who rose to riches and credit here, and have 
left fine families. One great man before my time had 
been sold in Maryland as an offender in Ireland. While 
serving his master as a common servant, he showed 
much ability, unexpectedly, in managing for him an 
important lawsuit, for which he instantly gave him free. 
He then came to Philadelphia, and amassed a great 
fortune in landed estate, now of great value among his 
heirs. 

The case of Lord Altham, who came to this country 
in 1728, when a lad, and served out his servitude as 



OF OLDEN TIME. 237 

James Annesley, with a farmer on the Lancaster road, 
forms in itself a curious and interesting recital. The 
circumstance has furnished the groundwork for Rode- 
rick Random, and for the popular novel of Florence 
M'Cartey. The facts are as follows, to wit : 

The facts concerning this singular case are taken 
from the evidence given on the' trial, and may be de- 
pended on as authentic. 

Arthur Annesley (Lord Altham) married Mary Shef- 
field, natural daughter of the earl of Buckingham. By 
her, in the year 1715, he had a son, James, the subject 
of this memoir. In the next year the parents had some 
differences, which terminated in a separation. The 
father, contrary to the wish of the mother, took e'xclu- 
sive possession of his son James, and manifested much 
fondness for him, until the year 1722, when he formed 
some intimacy with Miss Gregory ; and about the same 
time his wife died. Miss G. expecting now to become 
his wife, exerted herself greatly to alienate his affections 
from his son, by insinuating that he was not his proper 
child. She succeeded to get him placed from home, at 
a school in Dublin. In November, 1727, Lord Altham 
died ; and his brother Richard, wishing to possess the 
estate and title, took measures to get rid of his nephew, 
James, by having him enticed on board an American 
vessel, which sailed from Dublin in April, 1728. He 
was landed at Philadelphia, then in his'thirteenth year, 
and sold as a redemptioner ! and actually served out 
twelve years in rough labour, until a seeming accident, in 
the year 1 740, brought him to such acquaintance, as led, 
in the next year, to his return home. The case was this : 
Two Irishmen, John and William Broders, travelling the 



238 HISTORIC TALES 

Lancaster road, in the year 1740, stopt at the house near 
the forty milestone, where James was in service with an 
old German. These countrymen entering into conver- 
sation, perceived they were severally from Dumaine, 
in the county of Wexford, and that James Annesley 
was the son of Arthur. The two Broders volunteered 
to go back to Ireland, and testify to the discovery they 
had made, and actually kept their word at the trial 
which afterwards occurred. James subsequently stated 
his case to Robert Ellis, Esq., of Philadelphia, who, 
compassionating his case, procured a passage for him 
to Admiral Vernon, then in the West Indies, by whom 
he was afterwards landed in England. But shortly 
after his arrival at London, James unfortunately killed 
a man, for which he had to stand a trial ; and then 
Lord Altham, the unnatural uncle, exerted himself to 
have him convicted, but he was nevertheless acquitted 
as innocent. An action was brought against the uncle, 
and went to trial in November, 1743, and the verdict 
was given in favour of James, our redemptioner. The 
uncle appealed to the house of lords ; and while the 
case was pending, James died, leaving the uncle in 
quiet possession of his ill.gotten estate, showing, how- 
ever, while he lived, which was not long, the spectacle 
of a finished villain, even in an Irish nobleman. 



OF OLDEN TIME, 239 



AGED PERSONS. 



-The hands of yore 



That danc'd our infancy upon their knee, 
And told our marvelling boyhood legends store, 
Of their strange ventures, hap'd by land and sea, — 
How they are blotted from the things that be !" 

There is something grateful and perhaps sublime in 
contemplating instances of prolonged life, — to see per- 
sons escaped the numerous ills of life unscath'd. They 
stand like venerable oaks, steadfast among the minor 
trees, e'en wondered at because they fell no sooner. 
We instinctively regard them as a privileged order, es- 
pecially when they bear their years with vigour, " like 
a lusty winter," they being alone able to preserve un- 
broken the link which binds us to the remotest past. 
While they remain, they serve to strangely diminish 
our conceptions of time past, which never seems fully 
gone while any of its proper generation remains 
among us. 

These thoughts will be illustrated and sustained by 
introducing to the consideration names and persons 
who have been the familiars of the present generation, 
and yet saw and conversed with Penn the founder, and 
his primitive cotemporaries ! How such conceptions 
stride over time ! All the long, long years of our nation 
seem diminished to a narrower span ! — For instance : 

I lately saw Samuel R. Fisher, still a merchant at- 
tending to bis business in the city, in his 84th year, 
who tells me he well remembers to have seen at Ken- 



240 HISTORIC TALES 

dall meeting, James Wilson, a public Friend, who said 
he perfectly remembered seeing both George Fox, the 
founder of Friends, and William Penn, the founder of 
our city ! 

Often, too, I have seen and conversed with the late 
venerable Charles Thomson, the secretary of the first 
congress, who often spoke of his being curious to find 
out, and to converse with the primitive settlers, which 
still remained in his youth. 

Every person who has been familiar with Dr. Frank- 
lin, who died in 1790, and saw Philadelphia from the 
year 1723, had the chance of hearing him tell of seeing 
and conversing with numerous first settlers. Still bet- 
ter was their chance who knew old Hutton, who died 
in 1793, at the prolonged age of 108 years, and had 
seen Penn in his second visit to Philadelphia in 1700 ; 
and better still was the means of those now alive, who 
knew old Drinker, who died as late as the year 1782, 
at the age of 102 years, and had seen Philadelphia, 
where he was born, in 1680, even at the time of the 
primitive landing and settlement in caves ! Nor were 
they alone in this rare opportunity, for there was also 
the still rarer instance of old black Alice, who died as 
late as the year 1802, and might have been readily seen 
by me, — she then being 116 years of age, with a sound 
memory to the last, distinctly remembered William 
Penn, whose pipe she often lighted, (to use her own 
words,) and Thomas Story, James Logan, and several 
other personages of fame in our annals. 

It may amuse and interest to extend the list a little 
further, to wit : The late aged Sarah Shoemaker, who 
died in 1825, aged ninety-five years, told me she often 



OF OLDEN TIME. 241 

had conversed with aged persons in her young days, 
who had seen and talked with Penn and his com- 
panions. In May, 1824, I conversed with Israel Key- 
nolds, Esq. of Nottingham, Maryland, then in his 66th 
year, a hale and newly married man, who told me he 
often saw and conversed with his grandfather, Henry 
Reynolds, a public Friend, who lived to be ninety-four 
years of age, and had been familiar with Penn, both in 
Philadelphia and in England ; he had also cultivated 
corn in the city near the Dock creek, and caught fish 
there. 

Mrs. Hannah Speakman, still alive, in her 75th year, 
has told me she has often talked with aged persons 
who saw or conversed with Penn, but that being then 
in giddy youth, she made no advantage of her means to 
have enquired. Her grandfather Townsend, whom she 
had seen, had come out with Penn the founder. 

But now all those who still remain, who have seen 
or talked with black Alice, with Drinker, with Hutton, 
with John Key, the first-born, are fast receding from 
the things that be. What they can relate of their com- 
munications must be told quickly, or it is gone ! 

" Gone ! glimmering through the dream of things that were." 

We shall now pursue the more direct object of this 
article, in giving the names and personal notices of 
those instances of grandevity, which have occasionally 
occurred among us, — of those with whom, 

" Like a clock worn out with eating time 
The wheels of weary life at last stood still !" 

1727. This year dies Grace Townsend, aged ninety- 
21 



242 HISTORIC TALES 

eight years, well known among the first settlers, and 
who lived many years on the property nigh the Chesnut 
street bridge over Dock creek, at the Broad Axe Inn. 

1730. January 5, died at Philadelphia, Mary Broad- 
way, aged one hundred years, a noted midwife ; her 
constitution wore well to the last, and she could read 
without spectacles. 

1731. May 19, John Evet, aged one hundred, was 
interred in Christ church ground. He had seen King 
Charles the First's head held up by the executioner, 
being then about sixteen years old. 

1739. May 30, Richard Buffington, of the parish of 
Chester, a patriarch indeed, had assembled in his own 
house one hundred and fifteen persons of his own de- 
scendants, consisting of children and grand and great 
grandchildren, he being then in his eighty-fifth year, in 
good health, and doubtless in fine spirits among so many 
of his own race. His eldest son, then present at sixty 
years of age, was said to have been the first Englishman 
born in Pennsylvania region, and appears to have been 
three or four years older than the first-born of Phila- 
delphia, or of Emanuel Grubb, the first-born of the 
province. 

Speaking of this great collection of children in one 
house, reminds one of a more extended race, in the 
same year, being the case of Mrs. Maria Hazard, of 
South Kingston, New England, and mother of the 
governor; she died in 1739, at the age of one hundred 
years, and could count up five hundred children, grand- 
children, great grandchildren, and great great grand- 
children ; two hundred and five of them were then alive. 
A granddaughter of hers had already been a grand- 



OF OLDEN TIME. 243 

mother fifteen years ! Probably this instance of Rhode 
Island fruitfulness may match against the world. 

1761. Died, Nicholas Meers, in his Ulth year ; he 
was buried in Friends' ground at Wilmington. He 
was born in the year 1650, under the government of 
Cromwell, and about the time of the rise of the Society 
of which he became a member. He lived through 
eventful periods, had been the subject of ten successive 
sovereigns, including the two Cromwells. He saw 
Pennsylvania and Delaware one great forest, — a range 
for the deer, buffalo, and panther ; and there he lived 
to see a fruitful field. If those who were conversant 
with him in his last days had conversed with him on his 
recollections of the primitive days of our country, what 
a treasure of facts might have been set down from his 
lips ! So we often find occasion to lament the loss of 
opportunities with very aged persons, of whom we hear 
but little until after their death. 

" First in the race, they won, and pass'd away !" 

1763. Miss Mary Eldrington, of Elizabethtown, 
New Jersey, died at the age of one hundred and nine 
years. " She still looked for a husband, and did not 
like to be thought old." 

1767. Mrs. Lydia Warder died this year, aged 
eighty-seven years; she was born in 1680, came out 
with Penn's colony, had lived in a cave, and had a 
lively memory of all the incidents of the primitive set- 
tlement. 

This same year, 1767, was fruitful in passing off the 
primitive remains from among us ; thus showing, that 
in the deaths of those named in this year of the first 



244 



HISTORIC TALES 



settlers, there are inhabitants now alive, who must have 
had good opportunities of making olden time enquiries. 

" Of no distemper, of no blast they died, 
But fell like autumn fruit that mellow'd long-, 
Ev'n wonder'd at, because they fell no sooner." 

1767 — July. Died at Chester county, John Kay, 
aged eighty-five years, the first born in Philadelphia, at 
a cave named Penny Pot, at Vine street ; and in Au- 
gust 10, (same year,) died at Brandywine hundred, 
Emanuel Grubb, aged eighty-six years, also born in a 
cave, by the side of the Delaware river, and the first 
born child in the province, of English parents. Both 
those first borns died near each other, and their deaths 
in the same year were not unlike the coincident deaths 
of Jefferson and Adams lately, as the signers of inde- 
pendence. 

1767. Died at Philadelphia, Mrs. Elizabeth Morris, 
aged ninety-four years. 

1768— September. Died at Philadelphia, Peter Hunt, 
aged one hundred and one years. 

1 769 — July." Hannah Milner died, aged one hundred 
and one years ; she was the mother of fourteen children, 
grandmother of eighty-two children, and great great 
grandmother of one hundred and ten children — making 
two hundred and six children. 

1770. This year died Rebecca Coleman, aged ninety- 
two years. She came to Philadelphia with the first set- 
tiers. Some of her posterity at her death were of the 
fifth generation. She could recount much of ancient 
Philadelphia — for she remembered it when it consisted 
of but three houses, and the other dwellino-s were caves. 



OF OLDEN TIME. 245 

Some now alive must remember her conversation, and 
might even yet communicate something. 

1770 — January. Died, Sarah Meredith, aged ninety 
years. She was born in a little log house, where now 
the city stands, where she continued until she changed 
her maiden name of Rush to become the wife of David 
Meredith, and to settle in the Great Valley, in Chester 
county, twenty-eight miles from Philadelphia — then the 
frontier settlement, and six miles beyond any neigh- 
bours, save Indians, who were then numerous, kind, 
and inoffensive. There she continued all her days ; 
becoming the mother of eleven children, grandmother 
to sixty-six, and great grandmother of thirty one. 

1770 — June 30th. Died at Merion, Jonathan Jones, 
aged ninety-one years, having been ninety years in the 
country, he coming here from Wales when an infant. 

1770. This year died John Ange, of the extraordi- 
nary age of one hundred and forty years, as declared 
by himself, and as fully believed by all his neighbours, 
from the opinions of their fathers before them. He 
was settled as a planter between Broad creek and the 
head of Wicomoco river, in Pennsylvania. He had 
been blind some years from age. His food was always 
simple and sparing, and himself of lean habit. He left 
a son of about eighty years of age a great grandfather, 
hale, active, and lively, and without gray hairs. 

1774 — 14th of February. Died in Bucks county, 
Mrs. Preston, at the advanced age of one hundred 
years and upwards. She had seen Penn and his colo- 
nists at Philadelphia ; had acted as his interpreter oc- 
casionally with the Indians. She possessed her memory 
and understanding to the last. 
21* 



246 HISTORIC TALES 

1782 — 17th November, died Edward Drinker, aged 
one hundred and two years, having been born the 24th 
of December, 1680, in a cabin near the corner of Se- 
cond and Walnut streets — the triangular block. When 
Dr. Franklin was questioned in England to what age 
we lived in this country, he wittily said he could not 
tell until Drinker should die and settle it. Drinker's 
parents came from Beverly, and settled on the site of 
Philadelphia before Penn came ! He had all his eighteen 
children by his first wife, having had four wives in all. 
He was never sick — always cheerful. 

1792--December 20th, died John S. Hutton, aged 
one hundred and nine years, having been born in 1684; 
he was cheerful, good humoured, and temperate, all his 
life. He deemed himself in his prime at sixty years of 
age. He was very fond of fishing and fowling, and 
could be seen when past eighty carrying his duck gun. 
Being a silversmith by profession, he was borne to his 
grave by his fellow craftsmen. Two such patriarchs as 
Hutton and Drinker, might have passed many pleasant 
hours in talking over the changes of their days, and 
their past recollections of the city, because their lives 
had been so long cotemporary. 

1802. This year died Alice, a black woman, aged 
one hundred and sixteen years. She had known the 
city from its origin. When she was one hundred and 
fifteen, she travelled from Dunk's Ferry to the city, and 
there told Samuel Coates, and others, of numerous early 
recollections of the early days. 

1809. Died at Philadelphia, James Pemberton, aged 
eighty-six years, a distinguished member among Friends, 



OF OLDEN TIME. 247 

and lineal descendant of Phineas Pemberton, primitive 
settler and judge of Bucks county. 

1810. Died at Philadelphia, George Warner, aged 
ninety-nine years. This patriarch was one of many 
emigrants that came out from England as farmers and 
mechanics, in 1726 — a time when he saw our city in its 
green age, when all was young. He often described 
things as he then found them, and contrasted them with 
their subsequent changes. 

1823. Died at Philadelphia, Mrs. Mary Elton, at 
the advanced age of ninety-seven years. 

1825. Died at Philadelphia, Mrs. Hannah Till, a 
black woman, who had been cook to General Washing- 
ton and General La Fayette in all their campaigns 
during the war of independence. The latter at my in- 
stance went to see her at No. 182, South Fourth street, 
when he was here in 1825, and made her a present to 
be remembered. 

1825. Died at Philadelphia Almshouse, Margaret 
or Angela Millet, in the one hundred and twelfth year 
of her age. She was born and lived in Canada — said 
she was nearly forty when General Wolfe was slain — 
remembered him well — remembers and tells much of 
the Indian barbarities. She was once married and had 
a child, long since dead — could walk about very readily 
— has cut two new teeth lately — was never sick and 
never bled — has never used spectacles, and could see 
but little — all her life had been exposed, and accustomed 
to labour — thought herself still a smart woman in her 
last year — speaks French and English — came to Phila- 
delphia from Canada when one hundred and two years 
of age. 



24 Q HISTOEIC TALES 



1 825. Billy Brown, a black man, of Frankford, was 
seen by me in his ninety-third year of age— he lived 
about two years afterwards. He was of the African 
race, taken a prisoner when a lad, leaving his parents 
and five brethren ; and was two years before reaching 
the coast and being sold. I found him quite intelligent, 
his memory good, and himself a pious good man. He 
was then the husband of a young wife, by whom he 
had children, the youngest then sixteen years old. 
What made him most interesting, he had been at Brad- 
dock's defeat, as servant to Colonel Brown of the Irish 
regiment. There he remembered and described to me 
the conduct of Washington in that action— how he im- 
plored Braddock for leave to fight the Indians in their 
own way, with .300 of his own men, and how he was 
repulsed with disdain. He was afterwards at the death 
of General Wolfe, and near his person, still with Colo- 
nel Brown ; thence went to the attack of Havana ; 
thence at the peace to Ireland with his master, who 
there set him free by a vessel going to Philadelphia. 
Thence he was fraudulently conveyed to Virginia and 
sold— became the slave of one V^^iley, who was extreme- 
ly cruel to him— lost some of his fingers and toes by 
severe exposure— was bought by General Washington, 
and was his slave during all the revolution at his estate 
at the Long Meadows. Finally, free at Frankford; since 
died, and made happy in a better world. 

182.5. This year died Isaac Parish, in his ninety- 
second year, a respectable inhabitant of Philadelphia, 
father of the present Dr. P. It was remarkable con- 
cernmg him, that although there were eighty seven 
signers to his marriage certificate when tl^ey passed 



OP OXDEN TIME. 249 

meeting, yet both he and his wife survived every one of 
them. I could never see the aged couple abroad in the 
streets without thinking that they who had the best 
claims to be quite at home, by their familiarity with 
every nook and corner of the city, were in fact so per- 
plexed and surprised with the daily changes and novel- 
ties, as to be among the strangers and wanderers of the 
city. " The generation to which they had belonged 
had run away from them!" — Or, as Young strikingly 
expresses it, to wit : 

" My world is dead ; 



A new world rises and new manners reign : 

The strangers gaze, 

And I at them, — my neighbour is miknown !" 

About this time I saw Miss Sarah Patterson, of Phi- 
ladelphia, then well, in her ninetieth year. Robert 
Paul, an ancient Friend, still going to Pine street meet- 
ing, I saw at the age of ninety-five years. Thomas 
Hopkins, another Friend, going to the same meeting, I 
saw and talked with when he was past ninety years. 

There is at this time alive at St. Thomas, seven miles 
from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, a man named John 
Hill, who is probably the oldest man now alive in North 
America, deemed to be one hundred and thirty-five or 
six years of age ! he having been a soldier in the time 
of Queen Anne, and served twenty-eight years. His 
faculties of body and mind are still good, as good as 
most men of sixty to seventy years. He was born in 
England, 



^50 HISTORIC TALES 



SEASONS AND CLIMATE. 



" I sing the varying seasons and their change." 

It is intended to include in the present chapter only 
such notable changes of the temperature, in the extremes 
of heat and cold, as was matter of surprise or remark 
at the time of the occurrence, and therefore most likely 
to arrest our attention in the present day— as a wonder 
of the past. 

As early as the year 1683, William Penn, in his let- 
ter to Lord North, of 24th 6th month, says — '«The 
weather often changeth without notice, and is constant 
almost in its inconstancy !" Thus giving us, at a very 
slender acquaintance, the name of a coquettish clime / 

An oldfashioned snow storm, such as we had lately 
on the 20th and 2 1st of February, 1 829, and on the 14th 
and 15th of January, 1831, is the best thing in our 
country to bring to recollection olden time, when our 
fathers browbeat larger snowdrifts than have encum- 
bered our fields and roads since honesty and leather 
aprons were in vogue. It is cheering to see the tower- 
ing bank in a sunny morning, gemmed, like the crown 
of a monarch, with jewels that receive their splendour 
from the sun's rays, and reflect them back to ornament 
the cold white hillock which the clouds have bestowed 
upon us, to awaken recollections dear, and sensations 
as cutting as the winter. It tells you of log fires which 
cheered them in the wilderness, and warmed the pot- 
tage which gave them the very hue of health. In short, 



OP OlDEN TIME. 251 

as said the Literary Cadet, " a snow storm in its severest 
form is a mirror, to reflect back olden time, in all its 
colouring, to the present !" Nor is it less grateful, as a 
winter scene, to behold the occasional magnificent efful- 
gence of an ice-rain, embossing in crystal glory, as if 
by magic hands, the whole surface of the surrounding 
works of nature and art. 

" For every shrub and every blade of grass, 
And every pointed thorn, seems wrought in glass ; 
In pearls and rubies rich the hawthorn show, 
While through the ice the crimson berries glow. 

** The spreading oak, the beech and towering pine, 
Glazed over, in the freezing ether shine — 
The frighted birds the rattling branches shun, 
That wave and glitter in the glowing sun." 

It is probable that the winter of 1682, being the first 
which Penn saw here, must have been peculiarly mild, 
for he says he scarcely saw any ice at all, and the 
next year, the winter of 1683, which lie calls the se- 
verest before known, froze up for a few days our great 
river Delaware ! He must certainly have been too fa- 
vourably impressed by wrong information, for often the 
river has continued ice-bound for three months at a 
time. It was, however, grateful intelligence to the co- 
lonists then, and must have been a most welcome inci- 
dent, ill sheltered as they were, to have such favourable 
winters. 

Thomas Makin's Latin description of Pennsylvania 
thus describes our climate, as he knew it down to the 
year 1729, to wit : 



252 HISTORIC TALES 

"•Nay, oft so quick the change, — so great its pow'r 
As summer's heat and winter in an hour .'" 

" Sometimes the ice so strong and firm, we know 
That loaded wagons on the rivers go ! 
But yet so temp'rate are some winters here, 
That in the streams no bars of ice appear !" 

Professor Kalm, the Swedish traveller, who visited 
us in 1748-9, has left several facts descriptive of our 
climate, which he derived from the aged Swedes, and 
by his own observation, to wit : 

It snowed much more formerly, in winter, than in the 
time of 1748. The weather then was more constant 
and uniform, and when the cold set in it continued to 
the end of February or till March, old style ; after 
which it commonly began to grow warm. But in 1748, 
and thereabouts, it would be warm even the very next 
day after a severe cold, — and sometimes the weather 
would change several times a day ! Most of the old 
people told Mr. Kalm that spring came much later than 
formerly, and that it was much cplder in the latter end 
of February and the whole month of May, than when 
they were young. Formerly the fields were as green 
and the air as warm about the end of February, as it 
was then in March or the beginning of April, old style. 
Their proverb then was, " We have always grass at 
Easter." 

The lessening of vapours by cultivation, &c. was 
supposed to have changed the seasons. 

The winters, he understood, came sooner formerly 
than since. The first Mr. Norris used to say, that the 
Delaware was usually covered with ice about the middle 



OF OLDEN TIME. 253 

of November, old style, so that merchants always hur- 
ried their vessels for sea before that time. But about 
the year 1748, the river seldom froze over before the 
middle of December, old style. 

An old Swede of ninety-one years of age, told him 
he thought he had never witnessed any winter so cold 
as that of the year 1697-8, at'which time he had passed 
the Delaware at Christiana several times, with his wa- 
gons loaded with hay. He did not agree to the idea 
of others, that the waters had generally diminished. 

Isaac Norris's letter of the 8th of October, 1702, 
says : We have had a snow, and now the northwest 
blows very hard. The cold is great, so that at the 
falling of the wind the river (at Philadelphia) was filled 
with ice. On the 10th, he adds, there is a sign of a 
thaw, and he hopes vessels may yet get out. 

The severity of the winter 1704-5, is thus expressed 
by Isaac Norris, sen., to wit : '* We have bad the deepest 
snow this winter that has been known by the longest 
English liver here. No travelling ; all avenues shut ; 
the post has not gone these six weeks ; the river fast ; 
and the people bring loads over it as they did seven 
years ago — [as in 1697-8 aforementioned]. Many 
creatures are like to perish." Kalm says, many stags, 
birds, and other animals died, and that the snow was 
nearly a yard deep. 

Early ice was thus noticed the 23d of November, 
1732, saying: It has been so very cold this week past 
that our river is full of driving ice,. and no vessel can 
go up or down — a thing rarely happening so earl". 
Many persons have violent colds. 

The winter of 1740-1, a great snow. This winter 
22 



254 HISTORIC TALES 

was very severe during the continuance of " the great 
snow." It was in general more than three feet deep. 
The back settlers (says the Gazette) subsisted chiefly on 
the carcasses of the deer found dead, or lying around 
them. Great part of " the gangs" of horses and cows 
in the woods also died. Ten and twelve deer are found 
in the compass of a few acres, near to springs. The 
chief severity was in February.* Many deer came to 
the plantations and fed on hay with the other creatures. 
Squirrels and birds were found frozen to death. By 
the 19th of March, the river became quite open. Old 
Mrs. Shoemaker, whom I knew, told me of her recol- 
lection of that severe winter, to the above effect. Her 
words were, that all the tops of the fences were so 
covered, that sleighs and sleds passed over them in 
every direction. James Logan's letter, of 1748, calls it 
" the hard winter of 1741," — as a proverbial name, 
saying "it was one of remarkable severity ; the most 
rigorous that has ever been known here." Kalm says 
it began the 10th of December, and continued to the 
13th of March, old style, and that some of the stags 
which came to the barns to eat with the cattle, became 
domesticated thereby. 

The 1st of November, 1745, is recorded by John 
Smith in his journal, as the cold day, the river having 
frozen over at Burlington, and many boys skating on 
the Schuylkill. 

The 1 7th of March, 1 760, Franklin's Gazette records 

* It was in February of the year 1717, that the greatest re- 
corded " snow storm" of Massachusetts occurred ; — it being from 
ten to twenty feet deep ; compelling many to go abroad on its 
frozen crust from their chamber windows. 



OF OLDEN TIME. 



255 



" the greatest fall of snow ever known in Philadelphia 
since the settlement !" This is certainly saying much of 
such a snow so late in March ! — [as marking the con- 
trast the day I write this — on the 12th of March, 1829, 
it is mild and thundered several times !] The wind in 
the snow storm was from northeast, and fell incessantly 
for eighteen hours. The minutes of assembly show 
that the snow in some places gathered seven feet deep, 
and prevented the speaker and many members to get 
to town, so the house was adjourned. 

The same winter another singular circumstance oc- 
curred, told me by old Isaac Parish, to wit : The day 
he was married, the weather was so soft and open, that 
the wedding guests had to walk on boards to the meet- 
ing to keep them out of the soft mire ; but that night 
the cold became so intense that the river Delaware 
froze up so firmly that his friend William Cooper, mar- 
ried at the same time with himself, walked over to Jer- 
sey on the ice bridge on the next morning. No ice 
was previously in the river. 

Mrs. Shoemaker, who died at the age of ninety-five, 
told me she had seen the deep snows of 1740 and 1780 ; 
and from her recollections she said the winter of 1 780, 
was probably as deep as that of 1740, and withal was 
remarkably cold, so much so, as to be called the hard 
winter of 1780. 

The winter of 1 784, was also long remembered for its 
severity and long continuance. 

THE FOLLOWING ARE INSTANCES OF ANOMALY, TO WIT : 

The 8th of May, 1803, was a remarkable day. It 
snowed so heavily as to make a wonderful breaking of 



256 HISTORIC TALES 

the limbs of trees, then in full leaf. The streets in the 
city were filled with broken limbs thereby, most strange- 
ly showing — ^" winter lingering in the lap of spring." 

On the 13th and 14th of April, 1828, was a snow 
storm in which much snow fell, but not being cold, it 
soon after disappeared. 

The winter of 1817 was remarkable for displaying 
some very vivid lightning in the month of January ! No 
snow had fallen before this occurrence. The day pre- 
ceding it fell a little, but melted the same day. At night 
it grew warm and rained, accompanied by vivid light- 
ning. During the same night it blew up quite cold, 
and snowed about half an inch. Very cold weather 
immediately set in. The papers at Albany and New 
Hampshire spoke of vivid lightnings also on the night 
of the 17th of January. Good sleighing occurred at 
Philadelphia on the 23d of January. 

On the 25th of October, 1823, was the da7'Jc day. 
There was great darkness at 9 o'clock, A. M. so as to 
make candlelight desirable. At Norristown they were 
obliged to use candles. The darkness at New York 
came on at about 1 1 o'clock, and compelled the printers 
to print by candlelight. It was stormy there at an 
earlier hour. At Philadelphia there was thunder and 
some rain. At Albany, at 8 A. M. same day, it snowed 
fast all day, forming a fall of 12 inches, but melted very 
fast. It thundered there at 12 and at 2 o'clock while 
snowing ! The heavy snow broke the limbs of trees,'still 
in leaf, very much. At Newark it lightened and thun- 
dered severely, and hailed, and was very dark. On the 
whole, it was a wide spread darkness for one and the 
same storm. 



OF OLDEN TIME. 257 

On the Uth of April, 1824, it thundered and lightened 
considerably for the first time this spring. Old people 
tell me they never used to see this occurrence until the 
warm weather. But of late years it has occurred 
several times in the cold season, and sometimes in 
March. The Christmas days of 1824 and 1829 were 
remarkable for their coincidence of singular warmth. 
The thermometer in the shade at 7 o'clock, A. M. stood 
at 33°, and at 2 o'clock, P. M. at 63° — both days ex- 
actly alike, and on both periods having a gentle wind 
from the southwest. 

There were in olden time two memorable " hot sum- 
mers,^^ so called, and referred to in many years after- 
wards, the years 1727 and 1734. I describe the latter 
from the gazette of the time, to wit : 

July, 1734. The weather has been so hot for a week 
past, as has not been known in the memory of man in 
this country, excepting the " hot summer" about seven 
years since. Many of the harvest people faint or fall 
into convulsions in the fields, and 'tis said in some 
places a multitude of birds were found dead. The 
names of five inhabitants dying of the heat are given. 
Subsequent papers confirm the extreme heat in the 
country, and the deaths thereby. 

I ought to have mentioned too, that as early as the 
year 1699, Isaac Norris, sen. [Vide Logan MSS.] 
speaks then of the " hottest harvest season he had ever 
before experienced. Several persons died in the field 
with the violence of the heat." 

An elderly genleman tells me that the 1st of Octo- 
ber, 1770, memorable as the then election day, was 
well remembered as a snowy day. From that time 
22* 



258 HISTORIC TALES 

to this he has never witnessed it so early again. Since 
then, he thinks the earliest snows have not fallen earlier 
than the 1st of November. The middle of November 
has been regarded as an early snow. Often he has 
seen " Green Christmas," — that is, no snow till after 
Christmas, at least not such as to lay on the earth. 

Some of the mildest winters remembered, have been 
those of the years 1790, 1S02, 1810, 1824, and 1828. 

The night of the llih of April, 1826, was remarkably 
cold. It froze so hard as to bear a wagon loaded with 
flour on a muddy road. Some snow on the ground at 
the same time. On the 12th of April at sunrise the 
mercury stood at twenty-four. Old people say they 
never saw it so cold at that season. One remembers a 
deeper snow on the lOth of April, about forty years 
ago, when he went abroad in a sled. 

THE CLIMATE OF PHILADELPHIA AND ADJACENT COUNTRY 

Has been much investigated by Dr. Benjamin Rush, 
in 1789, and revised in 1805. The facts of which may 
be consulted at large, in Hazard's Register of Pennsyl- 
vania, vol. i. p. 151. 

Among his facts are these, to wit : The climate has 
undergone a material change since the days of the 
founders — thunder and lightning are less frequent ; cold 
of winters and heat of summers less uniform than they 
were forty or fifty years before. The springs are much 
colder and the autumns more temperate. He thinks 
the mean temperature may not have changed, but that 
the climate is altered by heat and cold being less con- 
fined than formerly to their natural seasons. He thinks 
no facts warrant a belief that the winters were colder 



OF OLDEN TIME. 259 

before the year 1740, than since that time. He ob- 
serves, that there are seldom more than twenty or thirty 
days, in summer or winter, in which the mercury rises 
above 80° in the former, or falls below 30° in the latter 
season. The higher the mercury rises in hot days, the 
lower it usually falls in the night. Thus, when at 80° 
by day, it falls to 66° at night ; or when at only 60° by 
day, it only falls to 66° at night. The greatest dispro- 
portion is most apparent in August. The warmest 
weather is generally in July ; but intense warm days are 
often felt in May, June, August, and September. The 
variableness of weather in our state, he observes, lies 
south of 41°, and beyond that, the winters are steady, 
and in character with the eastern and northern states. 
Our intense cold seldom sets in till about the 20th or 
25th of December, — " as the day lengthens the cold 
strengthens," — so that the coldest weather is commonly 
in January. The greatest cold he has known at Phila- 
delphia, was 5° below zero, and the greatest heat 95°. 
The standard temperature of the city is 52^°. The 
month of June is the only month which resembles a 
spring month in the south countries of Europe. The 
autumn he deems our most agreeable season. The 
rains in October are the harbingers of the winter, so 
that, as the Indians also say, the degrees of cold in win- 
ter can be foreknown by the measure of rain preceding 
it in the autumn. The moisture of air is greater now 
than formerly, owing probably to its now falling in rain, 
where it before fell in snow. Finally, he says, " We 
have no two successive years alike. Even the same 
successive seasons and months differ from each other 



260 HISTORIC TALES 

every year. There is but one steady trait, and that is, 
it is uniformly variable." 

SPRING AND SUMMER OCCURRENCES, 

Being such notices of facts as were deemed rare for 
the season, at the times affixed, in the following memo- 
randa, to wit : 

1736. April 22. Hail storm near the city ; hail as 
large as pigeons' eggs. 

1750. May. This is the coldest May ever known. 
Several frosts, and some snow. 

1772. April 2. Fell in several places six inches 
snow. 

1783. May. A heavy hail storm, believed the hea- 
viest ever known here — did not extend far in width — 
stones fell of half an ounce — many windows were 
broken. 

1786. May. Remarkable for the absence of the 
sun for two weeks, and a constantly damp or rainy 
weather. 

1788. August 18th and 19th. There fell seven 
inches of rain. 

1789. This spring remarkably backward — peaches 
failed — no cherries or strawberries — quite uncomforta- 
ble to sit without fires until June. 

In July very hot weather ; by 10 o'clock A. M. the 
meats in the market putrefy, and the city mayor orders 
them cast into the river — merchants shut up tlieir stores — 
thermometer at 96° for several days — in August fires 
became agreeable. 

1793. April 1. Blossoms on fruit trees are universal 
in the city^— birds appeared two weeks earlier than. usual. 



OF OLDEN TIME. 261 

May 22. To the end of the month a continuance of 
wet and cloudy weather — wind mostly at northeast, and 
so cool that fire was necessary most of the time — the 
summer of this year was the " Yellow Fever" calamity. 

1796. July 26. The most plentiful harvest remem- 
bered. 

1797. April 7. The peaches and apricots in blossom. 
1799. Aprils. Frost last night. 11th. Some ice 

in the gutters. 20th. Some ice in the morning. 
June 6. Black and white frost in the Neck. 

1801. May 28. Hay harvest near the city. 

1802. April. Several frosts this month, and in 
May, fires agreeable. 

1803. May 7. Ice — on the 8th, a snow which 
broke down the poplars and other trees in leaf — on the 
15th, a fire was necessary. 

1806. Summer. No rain after the middle of June, 
all through July, heat 90 to 96 degrees — pastures burnt 
up and summer vegetables failed. 

1807. April 3. Snow. 
June 13. Fire necessary. 

August and September. The influenza prevailed. 

1809. April 13. The houses covered with snow 
like winter. 

April 26. Ice as thick as a dollar. 
May 6. Ice. 13th. Grass frozen. 30th. Frost— 
the coolest May remembered for many years. 

1810. April 1. Snow on the ground. 3d. Spits of 

snow. 

May 13. White frost for several mornings. This 
year was remarkable for its abundance and excellence 
of fruits. 



262 HISTORIC TALES 

1811. Julys. Warm dry weather for some time — 
Indian corn suffers — a finer dry hay harvest not remem- 
bered — between the 3d and 9th, hot weather continued, 
from 94 to 97°. 

1812. April 13. Snow and rain. 

May 4. Rain and snow. 8lh. Frost. 22d. The 
spring very backward — fires necessary. 

1816. Junes. Frost. 10th. So severe as to kill 
beans. 1 1th. Severe frosts at Downingstown — destroy- 
ed whole fields of corn. 

1818. July 22. Monday last rain fell four inches. 

1824. July 20. Storm of rain and hail at Chester. 
July 28. Unprecedented fall of rain near Philadel- 
phia—doing much damage to bridges, &c. 

1825. June 11. Severe heat at 2 o'clock, ther- 
mometer at 96° in the shade. 

1827. July 20. Peaches, pears and plums in 
market. 

RARE FLOODS AND EBBS. 

In 1687, Phineas Pemberton, in his letter, speaks of 
the great land flood and rupture, at or near the Falls of 
Delaware. It occasioned much mortahty afterwards. 

In 1692, 27th of 2d mo. he speaks of the great flood 
at the Delaware Falls, which rose twelve feet above 
usual high water mark, owing to the sudden melting of 
the snOw. The water reached the upper stories of 
some of the houses, built on low lands. 

1731, Feb. 16. Last week we had the greatest 
fresh in the Delaware ever known since the great flood 
at Delaware Falls, thirty-nine years ago, in 1692. 

In 1733, month of February, " the ice in Schuylkill 



OF OLDEN TIME. 263 

broke up with a fresh, and came down in cakes of great 
thickness, in a terrible manner, breaking great trees 
where the flood came near the low land. It carried off 
the flats of two ferries, and the water was two and a 
half feet high on the ground floor of Joseph Gray's 
middle ferry, which is much higher than any fresh is 
known to have been in that river." 

1738. April 6. A great storm, at east and north- 
east, damaged the wharves, and much raised the creeks. 

1754. January 22, An unusually low tide, owing to 
a gale from northwest. 

1767. January 8. From the great and unexpected 
thaw since Saturday last, the ice on Monday broke up, 
and at the middle ferry carried away all the boats, broke 
the ropes, tore the wharf, swept off some of the out- 
houses, &c. 

1763. March 16. Saturday last, a remarkable low 
tide, owing to the northwest winds. It is said to be 
two and a half feet lower than common low water mark 
in the Delaware ; and in the Schuylkill it was so low 
that the ferry boats could not get to the fast land on 
either side. 

1775. September 3. The highest tide ever known 

1779. February 3. Sunday night last, the ice, thick 
and strong, broke up with the fresh occasioned by rains 
and melting of the snow. The water rose near six feet 
on the floor of Joseph Gray's house at the middle ferry, 
which is three feet higher than before, in 1733. 

March 17. On Wednesday and Thursday last a 
southeast storm raised the tide higher than known for 
many years, which did great damage. 

1784. January 13. Great damage was done by the 



264 HISTORIC TALES 

sudden and extraordinary rise of water occasioned by 
the thaw and great rain of Thursday last. 

March 16. This morning (Sunday) about two o'clock 
the ice in the Schuylkill gave way, but soon after it 
lodged, and formed a dam, which overflowed suddenly 
the grounds about the middle ferry, and carried off 
every thing but the brick house, drowning several 
horses and cattle, and forced the family to secure them- 
selves in the .second story till daylight, whither they 
were followed by a horse, that had sought refuge in the 
house. The waters did not subside till four o'clock on 
Monday afternoon.* In the Pennsylvania Gazette of 
the 27th of March, 1784, the particulars of this event 
are related in the form of two chapters in Chronicles, 
in scripture style. 

1796. March 18. A lower tide than recollected for 
many years — say since the 26th of December, 1759, 
when it was lower, — it was owing to a hard gale the 
night of the 16th instant, and since continued at north- 
west. The flood tide was two feet lower than a com- 
mon ebb ; the bar visible nearly across ; several chimnies 
blown down. 

1804. April 22 and 23. A very great fresh in the 
Delaware and Schuylkill, attended with very high tides, 
occasioned by very heavy rains. 

1 804. March 20. The ice gorged above the city, on 
coming down Schuylkill in a heavy fresh, which occa- 
sioned the water to rise to so great a height, that a man 
on horseback, with a common riding whip, from the 

* There were Iwenty-one persons in the house at the time, 
of whom only two are now living. 



OP OLDEN TIME. 



265 



Market street wharf on this side the river, could but 
just reach the top of the ice piled on said wharf. The 
ice and water found its way round the Permanent bridge 
on the west side, overflowing the causeway between the 
road and the bridge, to a depth that required boating 
for passengers for some hours. 

1805. This summer, Schuylkill lower by three inches 
than had been known for seventy years ; caused by the 
long and great drought. 

1810. January 19. Lowest tide for fourteen years. 

1822. February 21. The ice and water came over 
Fairmount dam to a depth of nine feet, and brought 
with it the Falls bridge, entire, which passed over the 
dam without injuring it, and went between the piers of 
the Market street bridge. At this fresh, the general 
body of water far exceeded the fresh in 1804 ; as the 
rising so much then, was owing to the ice gorging 
above. The fresh of 1822, from Reading down, is con- 
sidered to have possessed the greatest body of water and 
ice ever known ; at that place the river rose twelve feet 
high. 

1824. April 7. During the last four months, twenty 
freshets have occurred in Schuylkill. 

In 1825, the 29th of July, a very great and sudden 
land flood was experienced in and around Philadelphia; 
the effect of a great discharge of rain. 

When the extreme lowest tides have occurred in the 
Delaware, at the city, there have been some rocks ex- 
posed near Cooper's upper ferry, which are never seen, 
even in part, at other limes. They were first observed 
bare in 1769, — then again, in 1796, — and also, again 
in 1810, generally on the 17th of March. These low 
23 



266 HISTORIC TALES 

ebbs have usually occurred in March, and have been 
much promoted by strong and continued northwest 
winds. Those rocks have been seen as much as seven 
or eight feet out of the water ; on such occasions they 
have always been permanently marked with the initials 
and dates of visiters, &;c. The rocks, in 1810, were 
but two feet out of the water. 

1827. October. Unusually high tides about full moon. 
November 14. Lowest tide recollected for many years; 
rocks on Jersey channel exposed to view. 

1829. March 6. The ice and fresh came over Fair- 
mount dam five feet six inches in depth, with a very 
powerful flow of water, and, perhaps owing to the addi- 
tion of a very strong northwest wind, the awful rushing 
of the waters over the dam appeared, to an observer 
of both freshes, much more terrifically sublime than 
that in 1822, although at that time the depth was three 
feet six inches more than the recent one, flowing over 
the dam. It is most gratifying to know that the Schuyl- 
kill navigation and canals, and the Union canal, with 
their locks and dams, sustained both these freshes, 
which have occurred since these valuable works were 
formed, without any injury of importance. 



FIRST MEDICAL LECTURES. 



Dr. William Shippen had the honour to introduce at 
Philadelphia the first public lectures, in the year 1762, 
began at his house with only ten students. His first pub- 



OF OLDEN TIME. 267 

lie advertisement read thus — viz. " Dr. Wm. Shippen's 
anatomical lectures will begin to-morrow evening, at 
his father's house in 4th st — Tickets for the course five 
pistoles each." With such a small beginning he lived 
to enlarge his theatre — to address a class of two hun- 
dred and fifty persons — to see medical lectures diffused 
into five branches, and Edinburgh itself rivalled here 
at home I — he died in 1808. 

But who knows the locality of ihejlrst lecture room ! 
Or does any body care to transfer their respect for the 
man, to the place where he began his career ! It was 
on the premises now Yohe's hotel, in north Fourth street 
a little above High street — then sufiiciently out of town, 
with a long back yard leading to the alley opening out 
upon High street along the side of Warner's book- 
store — by this they favoured the ingress and egress of 
students in the shades of night. It was at first a ter- 
rific and appalling school to the good citizens. It was 
expected to fill the peaceful town with disquieted ghosts; 
mobbing was talked of, and not a little dreaded. It 
was therefore pretended that they contented themselves 
with the few criminal subjects they could procure ; 
which was further countenanced by a published permis- 
sion to him, by authority, to take the bodies of suicides. 
As the dead tell no tales, the excitement of the day 
subsided, and the affair was dropt in general parlance, 
— save among the boys, with whom it lingered long-^ 

" And awful stories chain'd the wondering ear ! 
Or fancy-led, at midnight's fearful hour 
With startling step we saw the dreaded corse." 

The tales had not subsided when I was a boy, when 



268 HISTORIC TALES 

for want of facts we surmised them. The lonely de- 
solate house is yet standing by the stone bridge over 
the Cohocksink, on north Third street, which all the 
boys of Philadelphia deemed the receptacle of dead 
bodies, where their flesh was boiled, and their bones 
burnt down for the use f the faculty ! The proofs 
were apparent enough : — It was always shut up — 
showed no out-door labourers — was by a constant 
stream of running water to wash off remains — had 
" No Admittance," for ever grimly forbidding at the 
door ; and from the great chimney about once a fort- 
night issued great volumes of black smoke, filling the 
atmosphere all the country round with a most noisome 
odour — offensive and deadly as yawning graves them- 
selves ! Does nobody remember this 1 Have none 
since smiled in their manhood to find it was a place 
for boiling oil and making hartshorn — took thus far out 
of town to save the delicate sensations of the citizens, 
by the considerate owner, Christopher Marshall ! The 
whole mysteries of the place, and the supposed doings 
of the doctors, was cause enough for ghost's com- 
plaints like these : 

" The i^ody-snatchers they have come 
And made a snatch at*me ; 
It's very hard t]iem kind of men 
Won't let a body be ! 
Do'nt go to weep upon my grave 
And think that there I be ; 
They hav'nt left an atom there 
Of my anatomie !" 

But more certain discoveries were afterwards made 
at Dr. Shippen's anatomical theatre in his yard. Time, 



or OLDEN TIME. 269 

which demolishes all things, brought at last all his 
buildings under the fitful change of fashion " to pull 
down and build greater," — when in digging up the 
yard for cellar foundations, they were surprised to find 
a grave-yard and its materials, not in any record of the 
city ! — a thing in itself as perplexing to the moderns 
who beheld the bones, as it had been before, the trou- 
ble of the ancients. 



THE POST. 

" He comes I the herald of a noisy world ; 
News from all nations lumb'ring at his back !" 

There is nothing in which the days of '* Auld Lang 
Syne" more differ from the present, than in the aston- 
ishing facilities now afforded for rapid conveyances 
from place to place, and, of course, in the quick deli- 
very of communications by the mail. Before the year 
1755, five to six weeks were consumed in writing to, 
and receiving an answer from Boston. All the letters 
were conveyed on horse-back, at a snail-pace gait — 
slow, but sure. The first stage between Boston and 
New York commenced on the 24th of June, 1772, to 
run once a fortnight, as " a useful, new, and expensive 
undertaking ;" " to start on the 13th, and to arrive 
either to or from either of those places on the 
25th;" — thus making thirteen days of travel !* Now, 

* " Madam Knight's Journal," of the year 1704, shows that 
she was two weeks in riding with the postman, as her guide, 
23* 



270 HISTORIC TALES 

it travels the same distance in 36 hours ! The first 
stage between New York and Philadelphia began in 
1756, occupied three days, and now it accomplishes it 
in ten hours ! 

Nor are those former prolonged movements peculiar 
to us. It was even so with our British ancestors, not 
very long before us ! We have a specimen of their 
sluggish doings in this matter, as late as the year 1712. 
" The New Castle Courant" of that year contains a 
stage advertisement, saying that '' all who desire to 
pass from Edinboro' to London, or from London to 
Edinboro', let them repair to Mr. John Baillies, &c. 
every other Saturday and Monday, at both of which 
places they may be received in a stage coach, which 
performs the whole journey in thirteen days, without 
stoppage, (if God permit) having eighty able horses to 
perform the whole stage." Now, the same distance is 
performed in 46 hours ! On the whole, it is manifest 
that the whole civilized world have learned to 
move every where with accelerated motion ! The 
facts, as they were in the olden time, are to the follow, 
ing eflect, to wit : — 

In 1683, month of July, Wm. Penn issued an order for 
the establishment of a post-ofFice, and granted to Henry 
Waldy, of Tekonay, authority to hold one, and " to 
supply passengers with horses from Philadelphia to 
New Castle, or to the Falls." The rates of postage 



from Boston to New York. In most of the towns, she saw In- 
dians. She often saw wampum passing as money among the 
people ; but 6d. a meal, at inns, «fec. Tobacco was used and 
sold under the name of black junk. 



OF OLDEN TIME. 271 

were, to wit : — " Letters from the Falls to Philadel- 
phia, 3d. — to Chester, 5d. — to New Castle, 7d. — to 
Maryland, 9d. — and from Philadelphia to Chester, 2d. 
— to New Castle, 4d. — and to Maryland, 6d." This 
post went onoe a week, and it was to be carefully pub- 
lished " on the meeting-house door, and other public 
places." These facts I found in the MSS. of the Pem- 
berton family. A regular act for a post-office at Phila- 
delphia, was first enacted in the year 1700. 

In 1748, when Professor Kalm arrived at Philadel- 
phia from London, many of the inhabitants came on 
board his vessel for letters. Such as were not so call- 
ed for, were taken to the cofibe-house, where every 
body could make enquiry for them, thus showing, that 
then, the post-oflice did not seem to claim a right to 
distribute them as now. 

In 1753, the delivery of letters by the penny-post 
was first begun. At the same time began the prac- 
tice of advertising remaining letters in the office. The 
letters for all the neighbouring counties went to Phila- 
delphia, and lay there till called for — thus, letters for 
Newtown, Bristol, Chester, New Castle, &;c. were to be 
called for in Philadelphia. 

Even at that late period, the northern mail goes and 
returns but once a week in summer, and once a fort- 
night in winter, just as it did twenty-five years before. 

But in 1754, month of October, a new impulse is 
given, so as to start for New York thereafter, on Mon- 
day, Wednesday, and Friday ; and in the winter, once a 
week. This, therefore, marks the period of a new era 
in the mail establishment of our country. It owed this 



272 HISTORIC TALES 

impulse, extending also to Boston, to the management 
of our Franklin, made postmaster general. 

In 1755, the postmaster general, Benjamin Franklin, 
publishes, that to aid trade, &;c. he gives notice, that 
thereafter, the winter northern mail from Philadelphia 
to New England, which used to set out but once a fort- 
night, shall start once a week all the year round, — 
*' whereby answers may be obtained to letters between 
Philadelphia and Boston, in three weeks, which used 
to require six weeks !" ' 

In 1758, newspapers, which aforetime were carried 
post free per mail, will, by the reason of their great 
increase, be changed thereafter to the small price of 
9d. a year, for fifty miles, and Is. 6d. for one hundred 
miles. This was, most probably, the private emolu- 
ment of the rider ; the papers themselves not having 
been mailed at all, it is probable. 

Finally, in 1774, which brings colonial things nearly 
to a final close, by the war of independence, soon 
after, we read that " John Perkins engages to ride 
post to carry the mail once a week to Baltimore, and 
will take along or bring back led horses or any par- 
cels." 

My mother remembers well that just preceding the 
revolution, '• the post hoy'*'' — a real hoy, used to come 
into Front street on horseback, bringing the New York 
mail^ and as he entered the town at Vine street, he 
blew cheerily his horn. A small affair then — now it 
requires a four horse stage I 



OF OLDEN TIME. 273 



GAZETTES. 



" These mark the every day affairs of life." 

The early newspapers are by no means such miscella- 
neous and amusing things as our modern use of them 
might lead us to conceive. They are very tame, and 
the news, which is generally foreign, is told in very 
dull prose ; very little hke jest or mirth appear in any 
of them. Fruitful as Franklin was in amusing writ- 
ings, it is really surprising how very devoid of Spectator- 
like articles his paper is ; but very little has been fur- 
nished by his pen. He must have deemed it out of 
place for his paper, and therefore confined his essays 
to his " Poor Richard's Almanac," which was so fa- 
vourably received as to call for three editions in the 
same year. Reflections on men and manners of that 
day, to which he was so very competent, would have 
been very interesting and judicious ; but 1 have found 
nothing. Probably " the even tenor of their way," 
in the days of his chief residence among us, excited 
no cause of remark, and that it was chiefly since the 
revolution that we began to deserve remarks on the 
changing character of the times and the people. 

But after every omission and neglect in such editors, 
old newspapers are still unavoidably a kind of mirror of 
their age, for they bring up the very age with all its 
bustle and every day occurrence, and mark its genius 
and its spirit, more than the most laboured description 
of the historian. Sometimes a single advertisement 



274 HISTORIC TALES 

incidentally "prolongs the dubious tale." An old paper 
must make us thoughtful, for we also shall make our 
exit ; there every name we read of in print is already 
cut upon tombstones. The names of doctors have fol- 
lowed their patients ; the merchants have gone after 
their perished ships ; and the celebrated actor furnishes 
his own scull for his successor in Hamlet. 

" The American Weekly Mercury" was begun by 
Andrew Bradford, son of William, in Philadelphia, 1719, 
in company with John Copson. This was the first ga- 
zette ever published in our city. It was begun the 22d 
of December, 1719, at ten shillings per annum. The 
general object of the paper is said to be, " to encourage 
trade." It does not seem to be the spiiit of the paper 
to give the local -news ; or rather, they did not seem to 
deem it worth their mention. It might have been but 
" a tale twice told," for which they were unwilling to 
pay, while they thought every man could know his 
domestic news without an advertiser. 



WHALES AND WHALERY. 



" The huge potentate of the scaly train." 

It will much surprise a modern Philadelphian, to 
learn how very much the public attention was once en- 
gaged in the fishery of whales along our coast, and to 
learn withal, that they disdained not occasionally to 



OF OLDEN TIME. 275 

leave their briny deeps to explore and taste the gustful 
fresh waters of our Delaware, — even there, 

" Enormous sails incumbent, an animated isle, 
And in his way dashes to heaven's blue arch the foaming wave." 

"The Free Society of Traders" had it as a part of 
their original scheme of profit, to prosecute extensively 
the catching of whales. To this purpose, they insti- 
tuted a whalery near Lewestown ; and, as I am inclined 
to think, there was once in some way connected with 
the whalery, a place of sale or deposit at the junction 
of" Whalebone alley" and Chesnut street, on the same 
premises now Pritchet's. The old house which formerly 
stood there, had a large whalebone affixed to the wall 
of the house, and when lately digging through the made 
earth in the yard, they dug up several fragments of 
whales, such as tails, fins, <kc. Its location there 
originally was by the tide water ranging in Dock creek. 
Be this as it may, we are certain of the whales and the 
whaleries, from facts like the following, to wit : 

In 1683, William Penn, in writing to the above so- 
ciety, says, " The whalery hath a sound and fruitful 
bank, and the town of Lewes by it, to help your 
people." 

In another letter of the same year, he says, " Mighty 
whales roll upon the coast, near the mouth of the bay 
of the Delaware ; eleven caught and worked into oil in 
one season. We justly hope a considerable profit by 
a whalery, they being so numerous and the shore so 
suitable." 

In another letter of 1683, William Penn again says, 
" Whales aie in great plenty for oil, and two companies 



276 HISTORIC TALES 

of whalers, and hopes of finding plenty of good cod in 
the bay." 

In 1688, Phineas Pemberton, of Pennsbury, records 
a singular visiter, saying, " A whale was seen in the 
Delaware as high as the Falls !" 

In 1722, deficiency of whales is intimated, saying in 
the gazette, that there are but four whales killed on 
Long Island, and but little oil is expected from Ihence. 

In 1730, a cow-whale of fifty feet length is advertised 
as going ashore to the northward of Cape May, dead. 
The harpooners are requested to go and claim it. Thus 
showing, I presume, that a fishery was then near there, 
by the same persons who may have harpooned it. 

In 1733, month of April, two whales, supposed to be 
a cow and a calf, appeared in the river before the city. 
They were pursued and shot at by people in several 
boats, but escaped notwithstanding. What a rare spec- 
tacle it must have been to the fresh water cockneys of 
the city ! 

In 1735, month of July, some fishermen proved their 
better success at this time in capturing an ocean fish, 
such as a shark of seven feet length in a net, a little 
above the city. The gazette of the day says it is but 
seldom a shark is found so high in fresh water. If that 
was strange in that day, it was still stranger in modern 
times, when " a voracious shark," of nine feet long and 
500wt. was caught at Windmill Cove, only five miles 
below Philadelphia, in July, 1823. Not long after, say 
in January, 1824, near the same place, was taken a 
seal of four feet four inches long, and 6 libs, weight, 
near the Repaupa flood gates. 

About the same time another was taken in Elk river. 



OF OLDEN TIME. 277 

Many years ago seals were often seen about Amboy, 
but to no useful purpose. 

In 1736, February, " two whales are killed at Cape 
May, equal to forty barrels of oil," and several more are 
expected to be killed " by the whalemen on the coast." 

Finally, the last " huge potentate of the scaly train" 
made his visit up the Delaware about the year 1809, — 
then a whale of pretty large dimensions, to the great 
surprise of our citizens, wsls caught near Chester. He 
was deemed a rare wanderer, and as such became a 
subject of good speculation as an exhibition in Phila- 
delphia and elsewhere. Thomas Prior, who purchased 
it, made money by it, and in reference to his gains was 
called *< Whale Pryor." The jaws were so distended 
as to receive therein an arm chair in which visiters sat. 



GRAPES AND VINEYARDS. 



Numerous incidental intimations and facts evince the 
expectations originally entertained for making this a 
flourishing grape and wine country. Before Penn's 
arrival, the numerous grapevines every where climbing 
the branches of our forest trees, gave some sanction to 
the idea that ours may have been the ancient Wineland 
so mysteriously spoken of by the Norwegian writers. 
Almost all the navigators, on their several discoveries, 
stated their hopes, from the abundance of grapevines, 
with exultation. But neglecting these, we have sub- 
stituted whiskey ! 

24 



278 HISTORIC TALES 

Penn, in his letter of 1683 to the Free Society of 
Traders, says, ** Here are grapes of divers sorts. The 
great red grape, now ripe, (in August,) called by igno- 
rance the foxgrape, because of the rich relish it hath 
with unskilful palates, is in itself an extraordinary grape, 
and by art, doubtless, may be cultivated to an excellent 
wine — if not so sweet, yet little inferior to the Fronti- 
nac, as it is not much unlike in taste, ruddiness set aside, 
which in such things, as well as mankind, differs the 
case much. There is a kind of muscadel, and a little 
black grape, like the cluster grape of England, not yet 
so ripe as the other, but, they tell me, when ripe sweet- 
er ; and that they only want skilful vignerons to make 
good use of them." Then he adds, " I intend to ven- 
ture on it with my Frenchman this season, who shows 
some knowledge in these things." At the same time 
he questions whether it is best to fall to fining the 
grapes of the country, or to send for foreign stems and 
sets already approved. If God spare his life, he will 
try both means — [a mode of practice recently obtaining 
favour with several experimenters.] Finally, he says, 
I would advise you to send for some thousands of plants 
out of France, with some able vignerons." 

With such views, Penn, as we shall presently show, 
instituted several small experiments. He and others 
naturally inferred, that a country so fruitful in its spon- 
taneous productions of grapes, must have had a peculiar 
adaptation for the vine. When the celebrated George 
Fox, the founder of Friends, was a traveller through 
our wooden wilderness, he expressly notices his per- 
petual embarrassments in riding, from the numerous 
entangling grapevines. The same, too, is expressly 



OF OLDEN TIME. 



279 



mentioned by Pastorius, in his traversing the original 
site of Philadelphia. And when Kalm was here in 
1748, he speaks of grapevines in every direction, the 
moment he got without the bounds of the city ; and in 
his rides to Germantown and Chester, &c. he found 
them all along his way. Thus numerous and various 
as they once were, it may be a question, whether, in 
the general destruction of the vines since, we have not 
destroyed several of peculiar excellence, since modern 
accidental discoveries have brought some excellent 
specimens to notice,— such as the Orwigsburg and 
Susquehannah. 

In 1685, William Penn, in speaking of his vineyard 
to his steward, James Harrison, writes : '^ Although 
the vineyard be as yet of no value, and I might be out 
of pocket, till I come, be regardful to Andrew Dore the 
Frenchman. He is hot, but I think honest." This, I 
presume, refers to the vigneron, and to the vineyard at 
Springetsbury. 

In another letter he writes to recommend Charles de 
la Noe, a French minister, who intends, with his two 
servants, to try a vineyard, and if he be well used, more 
will follow. 

In 1686, he writes to the same steward, saying, " All 
the vines formerly sent and in the vessel (now), are 
intended for Andrew (Dore), at the Schuylkill, for the 
vineyard. I could have been glad of a taste last year, 
as I hear he made some." Again he says, " If wine 
can be made by Andrew Dore, at the vineyard, it will 
be worth to the province thousands by the year, — there 
will be hundreds of vineyards, if it takes. I under- 
stand he produced ripe grapes by the 28th of 5th mo. 



280 HISTORIC TALES 

from shoots of fifteen or sixteen mos. planting. Many 
French are disheartened by the Carolinas (for vines) as 
not hot enough !" 

About the time William Penn was thus urging the 
cultivation of the vine, his enlightened friend Pasto- 
rius, the German and scholar, was experimenting, as 
he expressly says, on his Kltle vineyard in German- 
town. 

How those vineyards succeeded, or how they failed, 
we have no data on which to found an explanation now. 
We behold, however, now, that Mr. E. H. Bonsall is 
succeeding with a vineyard among us ; and at Little 
York the success is quite encouraging. 

The following description of the discovery and cha- 
racter of the Susquehannah grape, will probably go far 
to prove the superiority of some natural grapes once 
among us, or leave grounds to speculate on the possi- 
bility of birds conveying off some of Penn's above- 
mentioned imported seeds. Another new and excellent 
grape has been discovered on the line of the new canal, 
beyond the Susquehannah. 

About a year ago, there were obtained some cuttings 
of a grapevine which was discovered by Mr. Dininger, 
on an island in the Susquehannah, called Brushy Island. 
The island upon which this vine was found is uninhabit- 
ed and uncultivated, the soil alluvial, and subject to 
overflow. The vine runs upon a large sycamore, spread- 
ing through the top branches, to the height of forty or 
fifty feet from the ground, and appears to have grown 
with the tree, the root being from twenty to thirty feet 
from the tree. The wood, leaf, and early shoots very 
much resemble what is called Miller's Burgundy, also 



OF OLDEN TIMEc 281 

the fruit, in colour and flavour ; but in size it is much 
larger. It was observed, that the fruit obtained in 
September, 1827, was a deep brown ; that of the next 
season, some were brown and others a deep black. 
The difference was accounted for by Mr. Dininger, who 
stated that the brown bunches were those that were 
shaded from the sun by tlie thick foliage of the tree ; 
but those exposed to the sun were black. Some of the 
bunches procured that season were very fine, and set 
closely upon the stem — fruit the size of the Powel 
grape, skin thin, no pulp^ a sweet water, seed small, 
flavour equal to the celebrated Black Prince^ and not 
inferior to any foreign grape, for the table. 

At the period in which this vine must have taken 
root, foreign grapes were little known in the United 
States, and then their cultivation was confined to the 
neighbourhood of the great Atlantic cities. 

None of the foreign varieties we have seen correspond 
in appearance with this fruit, for though the wood and 
leaf of Miller's Burgundy are so similar as scarcely to 
be distinguished apart, yet the bunches and fruit of that 
of the Susquehannah are much larger. 

Again — we have many stories related through the 
country, by persons worthy of credit, of the delicious 
grapes found upon the islands of the Susquehannah. 
Some described as white^ some red, black, purple, &c. 
without pulp, and all ripening in August and Sep- 
tember. 

Charles Thompson used to tell, that the most luscious 
and excellent wild grape he ever tasted, grew in a mea- 
dow on the road to Chester. He thought the fruit so 
24* 



282 HISTORIC TALES 

fine that he intended, at a proper season, to procure 
cuttings for its cultivation, but found the stupid owner 
had destroyed it, because it shaded " too much his 
ground !" 



OCCURRENCES OF THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 



" The deeds of our fathers in times that are gone ; 
Their virtues, their prowess, the fields they have won, 
Their struggles for freedom, the toils they endured. 
The rights and the blessings for us they procured." 

With a view to preserve some of our local facts 
connected with the war of independence, expressed in 
a manner more moving and stirring to our feelings 
than those general terms by which our historians have 
generalised their facts, I had aimed to collect and pre- 
serve such individual and special incidents, as would 
bring back the former scenes and doings of our fore- 
fathers to our contemplation. With this purpose, I had 
gathered from several eyewitnesses, in graphic deline- 
ations, the things they saw and did, and especially of 
those occurrences which transpired while Philadelphia 
was held under the government and conquest of Gene- 
r?il Howe and his army. I had gathered from the 
reminiscences of the aged, and the diaries of others of 
that day, several curious and unpublished facts ; such 
as would surprise, stir, and interest the present genera- 



OF OLDEN TIME. 283 

tion.* But after all my preparation on this matter, 
fully equal to fifty pages, I find myself obliged to lay it 
aside from the present publication, for want of room. 

The following facts, chiefly concerning the British 
army, must suffice for the present article, to wit : 

THE ENTRY OF THE ARMY AS TOLD BY CAPTAIN J. C. 

The grenadiers, with Lord Cornwallis at their head, 
led the van when they entered the city ; their tranquil 
look and dignified appearance has left an impression 
on my mind, that the British grenadiers were inimitable. 
As I am relating the feelings and observations of a boy 
only ten years old, I shall mention many things, per- 
haps, not worth relating ; for instance, I went up to the 
front rank of the grenadiers when they had entered 
Second street, when several of them addressed me thus: 
How do you do, young one, — how are you, my boy ; in 
a brotherly tone, that seems still to vibrate on my ear ; 
then reached out their hands and severally caught mine, 
and shook it, not with an exulting shake of conquerors, 
as I thought, but with a sympathising one for the van- 
quished. The Hessians composed a part of the van- 
guard, and followed in the rear of the grenadiers, — 
their looks to me were terrific, — their brass caps — their 
mustachios, — their countenances, by nature morose, 

* Some of the facts were from the recollections of the late 
Colonel A. M'Lane, so enterprising in our " border war," along 
our lines ; and some from the diary of a young lady in the midst 
of the martial doings, &c. — all spirited and warm fi"om the heart, 
with the glow of a " good whig ;" some also from the diary of a 
widow Friend, foreboding and sad wiUi tory sympathies and 
fears. 



s» 



284 HISTORIC TALES 

and their music, that sounded bettet English than they 
themselves could speak — plunder — plunder — plunder, 
gave a desponding, heart-breaking eflect, as I thought, 
to all ; to me it was dreadful beyond expression. 

EECOLLECTIONS OF THE ENTRY OP THE ARMY BY A 

LADY. 

I can well remember the previous gloom spread 
over the minds of the inhabitants, from the time it was 
thought the enemy would advance through the Jerseys ; 
the very darkest hour of the revolution appearing to me 
to be that preceding the capture of the Hessians at 
Trenton. The tories, who favoured the government at 
home, (as England was then called,) became elated, 
and the whigs depressed. This may account for a good 
deal of severity that was used before the constituted 
authorities of that time left the city, in visiting the in- 
habitants and inspecting what stores of provisions they 
had, taking in some instances what they deemed super- 
fluous, especially blankets, of which our army were in 
great need. After the public authorities had left the 
city, it was a very gloomy time indeed. We knew the 
enemy had landed at the head of Elk, but of their pro- 
cedure and movements we had but vague information ; 
for none were left in the city in public em})Joy, to whom 
expresses would be addressed. The day of the battle 
of Brandy wine was one of deep anxiety. We heard the 
firing, and knew of an engagement between the armies, 
without expecting immediate information of the result ; 
when, towards night, a horseman rode at full speed 
down Chesnut street, and turned round Fourth to the 
Indian Queen public house ; many ran to hear what he 



OF OLDEN TIME. 285 

had to tell, and as I remember, his account was pretty 
near the truth. He told of La Fayette being wounded. 
We had for a neighbour and an intimate acquaint- 
ance, a very amiable English gentleman, (H. Gurney,) 
who had been in the British army, and had left the 
service upon marrying a rich and excellent lady of Phi- 
ladelphia, some years before. He was a person so 
much liked and esteemed by the public, that he re- 
mained unmolested at a time when the Committee of 
Public Safety sent many excellent citizens into banish- 
ment without a hearing, upon the most vague and un- 
founded suspicion ; but contented themselves with only 
taking his word of honour that he would do nothing 
inimical to the country, nor furnish the enemy with any 
information. He endeavoured to give my mother con- 
fidence that the inhabitants would not be ill-treated. 
He advised that we should be all well dressed, and that 
we should keep our houses closed. The army marched 
in and took possession of the town in the morning. We 
were up stairs, and saw them pass to the State house : 
they looked well, clean, and well clad, and the contrast 
between them and our own poor, barefooted, and ragged 
troops, was very great, and caused a feeling of despair. 
It was a solemn and impressive day — but I saw no ex- 
ultation in the enemy, nor indeed in those who were 
reckoned favourable to their success. Early in the 
afternoon. Lord Cornwallis's suite arrived, and took 
possession of my mother's house. But my mother was 
appalled by the numerous train which took possession 
of her dwelling, and shrank from having such inmates ; 
for a guard was mounted at the door, and the yard 
filled with soldiers and baggage of every description : 



286 HISTORIC TALES 

and I well remember what we thought of the haughty 
looks of Lord Rawdon* and the other aid-de-camp, as 
they traversed the apartments. My mother desired to 
speak with Lord Cornwallis, and he attended her in the 
front parlour. She told him of her situation, and how 
impossible it would be for her to stay in her own house 
with such a numerous train as composed his lordship's 
establishment. He behaved with great politeness to 
her, said he should be sorry to give trouble, and would 
have other quarters looked out for him. They with- 
drew that very afternoon, and he was accommodated at 
Peter Reeve's,! in Second, near to Spruce street ; and 
we felt very glad at the exemption — but it did not last 
long — for directly the quartermasters were employed 
in billeting the troops, and we had to find room for two 
officers of artillery, and afterwards, in addition, for two 
gentlemen, secretaries of Lord Howe. 

The officers, very generally I believe, behaved with 
politeness to the inhabitants ; and many of them, upon 
going away, expressed their satisfaction that no injury 
to the city was contemplated by their commander. 
They said, that living among the inhabitants, and speak- 
ing the same language, made them uneasy at the thought 
of acting as enemies. 

At first, provisions were scarce and dear, and we 
had to live with much less abundance than we had been 
accustomed to. Hard money was indeed as difficult to 
come at, as if it had never been taken from the mines, 
except with those who had things to sell for the use of 

* Since the Marquis of Hastings, and who died at Malta in 
1826. 

t Nov7 David Lewis's house, No. 142, South Second street. 



OF OLDEN TIME. 287 

the army.^ They had given certificates to the farmers, 
as they came up through Chester county, of the amount 
of stores they had taken, and upon these being pre- 
sented for payment at head quarters, they were duly 
honoured. My mother received a seasonable supply 
in this way, from persons who were in her debt, and 
had been paid for what the army had taken. 

Every thing considered, the citizens fared better than 
could have been expected ; and though it was extremely 
disagreeable in many places, on account of the dirt, yet 
the city was healthy. The enemy appeared to have 
a great deal of shipping in the Delaware ; I counted 
sixty vessels, that looked of large size, moored so close 
to each other, that it seemed as if you could not pass a 
hand between them, near to where the navy yard now 
is — and all the wharves and places seemed crowded. 
There was scarce any thing to sell in the shops when 
they came into the town, and the paper money had de- 
preciated to nothing. I remember two pieces of silk 
that I saw on sale a little before their arrival, at one 
hundred dollars per yard. Tea was fifty and sixty dol- 
lars per pound. 

The day of the battle of Germantown, we heard the 
firing all day, but knew not the result. Towards evening 
they brought in the wounded. Tiie prisoners were 
carried to the State house lobbies, and the street was 
presently filled with women taking lint and bandages, 
and every refreshment which they thought their suflfering 
countrymen might want. 

General Howe, during the time he staid in Philadel- 
phia, seized and kept for his own use, Mary Pember- 
ton's coach and horses, in which he used to ride about 



288 HISTORIC TALES 

the town. The old officers appeared to be uneasy at 
his conduct, and some of them freely expressed their 
opinions ; they said, that before his promotion to the 
chief command, he sought for the counsels and com- 
pany of officers of experience and merit ; but now, his 
companions were usually a set of boys — the most dis- 
sipated fellows in the army. 

Lord Howe was much more sedate and dignified 
than his brother ; really dignified, for he did not seem 
to affect any pomp or parade. 

They were exceedingly chagrined and surprised at 
the capture of Burgoyne, and at first would not suffer it 
to be mentioned. We had received undoubted intelli- 
gence of the fact, in a letter from Charles Thomson, 
and upon communicating this circumstance to Henry 
Gurney, his interrogatories forced an acknowledgement 
from some of the superior officers, that it was, as he 
said, " alas, too true !" 

The streets seemed always well filled with both 
officers and soldiers, and I believe they frequently at- 
tended different places of worship; but Friends' meetings 
were not much to their tastes. They had their own 
chaplains to the diflferent regiments, which appeared to 
us a mere mockery of religion. Parson Badger was 
chaplain to the artillery, and he was billeted at John 
Field's, who, with his wife, were very plain Friends, in 
our neighbourhood. The house was very small, and 
he had the front room up stairs ; and as he was a jolly 
good-tempered person, he was much liked by the young 
fellows, who used to call to see him after parades. 

Even whig ladies went to the Meschianza and to 
balls, but I knew of very few instances of attachments 



OF OLDEN TIME. 289 



formed, nor, with the exception of one instance, of any 
want of propriety in behaviour. 

When they left the city, the officers came to take 
leave of their acquaintance, and express their good 
wishes. It seemed to us that a considerable change 
had taken place in their prospects of success, between 
the time of their entry and departure. They often spoke 
freely in conversation on these subjects. 

" The honourable Cosmo Gordon" staid all night at 
his quarters, and lay in bed so long the next morning, 
that the family thought it but kind to waken him, and 
tell him "his friends, the rebels," were in town. It 
was with great difficulty he procured a boat to put him 
over the Delaware. Perhaps he and his man were the 
last that embarked. Many soldiers hid themselves in 
cellars and other places, and staid behind— I have 
heard. In two hours after we saw the last of them, 
our own dragoons galloped down the street. 

When our own troops took possession of the city, 
General Arnold, then flushed with tlie recent capture 
of Burgoyne, was appointed to the command of it, and 
his quarters, (as if we had been conquered from an 
enemy,) appointed at Henry Gurney's ! They were 
appalled at the circumstance, but thought it prudent to 
make no resistance ; when, to their agreeable surprise, 
his politeness, and that of his aids, Major Franks and 
Captain Clarkson, made the imposition set light, and in 
a few days he removed to Mrs. Master's house in 
Market stree-i, that had been occupied as head quarters 
by General Howe, where he entered upon a style of 
living but ill according with republican simplicity, giv- 
ing sumptuous entertainments that involved him in 
26 



290 



HISTORIC TALES 



expenses and debt, and most probably laid the founda- 
tion, in his necessities and poverty, of his future decep- 
tion and treason to his country. He married our Phi- 
ladelphia Miss Shippen. 

FURTHER FACTS BY J. P. N., ESQ. 

I recollect seeing the division march down Second 
street, when Lord Cornwallis took possession of the 
city— the troops were gay and well clad. A number of 
our citizens appeared sad and serious. When I saw 
them, there was no huzzaing. The artillery were quar- 
tered in Chesnut, between Third and Sixth streets, — 
the State house yard was made use of as the park, — the 
42d Highlanders occupied Chesnut below Third street ; 
the 16th regiment were in quarters in Market, in and 
about Fifth street. 

When the enemy were bombarding Fort Mifflin, we 
could see the path of the bomb from the top of my old 
house. The blowing up of the Augusta was attended 
with a shock similar to that of an earthquake. I im- 
mediately started for Schuylkill point, where the British 
had a battery, and saw some firing. The officers ap- 
peared much chagrined at the events of the day. On 
our way down, we met several wagons with wounded 
soldiers— many of them in great pain — their moans and 
cries were very distressing. These men had been 
wounded before Redbank fort. 

I was present when some of the troops were going 
off for Germantown, the morning of thu battle ; they 
were in high spirits, and moved in a trot. 

Houses entirely occupied by the soldiery were a good 
deal injured — their conduct, however, was quite as good 



OF OLDEN TIME. 



291 



as could be expected. The officers of middle age were 
in general polite — the younger ones were more dashing. 
Some of them had women with them. I recollect 
Colonel Birch of the horse, and Major Williams of the 
artillery, had. Tliey occupied houses to themselves, 
and were not quartered on families. All the regiments 
paraded morning and evening. 

After the battle of Germantown, the officers who 
were made prisoners in that action were confined some 
days in the long room up stairs in the State house, now 
Peale's museum. 

During the winter, prisoners and deserters were fre- 
quently brought in, and carried first to head quarters. 
They were easily distinguished, as the latter always had 
their arms, and which they were allowed to dispose of; 
they were almost naked, and generally without shoes — 
an old dirty blanket around them, attached by a leather 
belt around the waist. 

Deserters from head quarters were led off to the su- 
perintendent, (Galloway,) and officers of the new corps 
were generally on the look out to get them to enlist. 

The citizens of Philadelphia were once gratified with 
the full display of General Washington's whole army. 
It was done on the occasion of raising the spirits of the 
whigs, and of proportionably dispiriting the measures of 
the tories. As it was intended for effect, it was, of 
course, in its best array for our poor means, and had 
indeed the effect to convince the tories it was far more 
formidable than they expected. This martial entree 
passed down the long line of Front street. There, 
thousands of our citizens beheld numerous poor fel- 
lows, never to be seen more among the sons of men I 



^^'^ HISTORIC TALES 



They were on their march to meet the enemy, landed 
at the head of Elk. They encountered at Brandywine 
and at Germantown, and besides losing many lives, re- 
tained little of all those implements and equipages, 
which constituted their street display in our city. 

At another time, the French army was displayed at 
Philadelphia, in fine style, 6,000 strong. Their white 
uniforms, and complete military array, were deemed a 
grand spectacle. They entered by passing down Front 
street, and out Vine street to the commons at the Centre 
square. Rochambeau was their commander, and the 
troops were on their way to Yorktown— so glorious to 
them and us ! 

LOCALITIES OCCUPIED BY THE ARMY AND OFFICERS. 

General Howe lived in the house in High street, near 
Sixth street, where was afterwards the residence of 
President Washington. His brother, Lord Howe, re- 
sided in Chesnut street, in the house now the Farmers 
and Mechanics bank. General Kniphausen lived in 
the house then General Cadwallader's, in South Second 
street, opposite to Little Dock street. Lord Cornwallis 
dwelt in the house since of David Lewis, in Second 
above Spruce street. Colonel Abercrombie—after- 
wards the general, who was killed in Egypt— dwelt in 
the house of Whitehead, in Vine street, second door 
west of Cable lane. Major Andre dwelt in Dr. Frank- 
lin's mansion, in a court back from High street. 

Several of the British troops used to exercise in the 
large vacant lot appurtenant to Bingham's mansion. 

The British who were wounded at the battle of Bran- 
dywine were put in Cuthbert and Hood's stores and 



OF OLDEN TIME. 293 

houses in Penn street. The Americans were put into 
the lobbies of the State house. The British wounded at 
Germantown were put into the Scotch Presbyterian 
church in Spruce street. 

While the British remained, they held frequent plays 
at the Old Theatre, the performances by their officers. 
The scenes were painted by Major Andre and Captain 
Delancy. They had also stated balls. 

They had under their control two tory presses, — one 
the " True Royal Gazette," by James Humphreys ; the 
other, the " Royal Pennsylvania Gazette," by James 
Robertson. 

Sir William Howe was a fine figure, full six feet high, 
and well proportioned, — in appearance not unlike his 
antagonist, General Washington. His manners were 
graceful and dignified, and he was much beloved by his 
officers, for his generosity and affiibility. 

Sir Henry Clinton, his successor in command, was in 
a good degree a different man, — he was short and fat, 
with a full face and prominent nose, in his intercourse 
was reserved, and not so popular as Howe. 

Lord Cornwallis was short and thick set, his hair 
somewhat gray, his face well formed and agreeable, his 
manners remarkably easy and aflfable — much beloved 
by his men. 

General Kniphausen was much of the German in 
his appearance, always very polite in bowing to respect- 
able citizens in the streets ; not tall, but slender and 
straight. His features sharp and martial — very honour- 
able in his dealings. 

Colonel Tarleton was rather below the middle size, 
stout, strong, heavily made, large muscular legs, and an 
25* 



^^4 HISTORIC TALES 

uncommonly active person,— his complexion dark, and 
his eye small, black, and piercing. 

Among their greatest feats while at Philadelphia, was 
that of the celebrated " Meschianza," so called. It was 
chiefly a tilt and tournament, with other entertainments, 
as the term implies, and was given on Monday, the 
18th of May, 1778, at Wharton's country seat in South- 
wark, by the officers of General Sir William Howe's 
army, to that officer, on his quitting the command to 
return to England. A considerable number of our city 
belles were present ; which gave considerable offence 
afterwards to the whigs, and did not fail to mark the 
fair as the " tory ladies." The ill nature and the re- 
proach has long since been forgotten. 

MISCELLANEA. 

I have very direct and certain evidence for saying, 
that Mrs. Lydia Darrach (the wife of William Darrach, 
a teacher, dwelling in the house No. 177, South Second 
street, corner of Little Dock street,) was the cause of 
saving Washington's army from great disaster while it 
lay at Whitemarsh, in 1777. The case was this: — 
The adjutant general of the British army occupied a 
chamber in that house, and came there by night to read 
the orders and plan of General Howe's meditated attack. 
She overheard them when she was expected to have 
been asleep in bed ; and making a pretext to go out to 
Frankford for flour for family use, under a pass, she 
met with Colonel Craig, and communicated the whole 
to him, who immediately rode off to General Washing- 
ton to put him on his guard. The next night, at mid- 
night, the British army, in great force, moved silently 



OF OLDEN TIME. 295 



out of Philadelphia. The whole terminated in what 
was called, I believe, the affair of Edge Hill, on the 6th 
December ; and on the 8th following, the British got 
back to the city, fatigued and disappointed. 

Mrs. Darrach, although a small and weakly woman, 
walked the whole distance out and in, bringing with her, 
to save appearances, twenty-five pounds of flour, borne 
upon her arms all the way from Frankford. The adju- 
tant general afterwards went to her to enquire if it had 
been possible that any of her family could have been up 
to listen and carry intelligence, since the result had 
been so mysterious to him. Mr. and Mrs. Darrach 
were of the society of Friends. 

A lady of Philadelphia, writing to an officer of the 
British army who had been intimate in her family before 
the war, thus expresses to him the patriotic feelings of 
her sex— [the copy was lately found in MS. among her 
papers]—" I will tell you what I have done : My only 
brother I have sent to the camp, with my prayers and 
blessings ; and had I twenty sons and brothers, they 
should go to emulate the great examples before them. 
I have retrenched every superfluous expense in my table 
and family. Tea 1 have not drank since last Christmas, 
nor bought a new cap or gown since your defeat at 
Lexington. I have the pleasure to assure you, that 
these are the sentiments of all my sister Americans. 
They have sacrificed assemblies, parties, tea drinkings, 
and finery, to the great spirit of patriotism. If these 
are our sentiments, what must he the resolutions of our 
husbands but to die or he free?'' 

At this time, the beloved tea of the ladies was ex- 
cluded from all the tables of the whigs ; and the few 



^^^ HISTORIC TALES 

Who clandestinely indulged in the beverage, asked for 
It at the stores as " cut tobacco," sealed up in papers ; 
and when using it, they always had a coffee pot on the 
table to disguise the reality. 

Our war, which has been called "a history of tem- 
porary devices," was replete with happy accidents, 
"such as the pious call providence, and the profane 
call luck." To instance only a few cases of" time and 
chance," as they occurred — 

When the war had just begun, and we were almost 
destitute of military equipments, Captain Manly was 
sent out of Philadelphia to endeavour to capture war 
implements known to have been shipped in two ships 
from the tower of London. He soon captured one, 
and found many of the articles were ineffective without 
possessing those in the other ; and this he also succeed- 
ed to find and capture, and so brought in an outfit for 
the first hostilities. 

On another occasion, when military stores and cloth- 
ing were exhausted in Washington's camp, a supply 
suddenly and unexpectedly arrived in a ship to Robert 
Morris, fully laden, all which he generously gave up to 
the service. At another time, when there were no car- 
tridges but those in the men's boxes, and when if at- 
tacked defeat seemed inevitable, a most seasonable 
supply of lead arrived to Mr. Morris in the Holker 
privateer, as her ballast,— all of which he promptly 
gave up to the use of the soldiers. 

The Hessians, captured at Trenton, were all marched 
up Chesnut street, to cheer and encourage the despond- 
ent, and to be shown to congress, then in session there. 
They made a long line— all fine hearty looking men, 



OF OLDEN TIME. 297 

well clad, and looking very well satisfied. On each 
side of them, in single file, were their American guards, 
mostly in light summer dress, and some without shoes, 
(in winter too,) stepping hghtly, and eyes beaming with 
joy and gladness. I have the tassel of the Hessian 

colour. 

Among the amusing and facetious incidents ot the 
war, which sometimes cheered the heart amidst its 
abiding gloom, was that of the celebrated occurrence 
of " the Battle of the Kegs," at Philadelphia. It began 
at early morn— a subject of general alarm and conster- 
nation, but at last subsided into matter of much merry 
makings among our American whigs, and of vexation 
and chagrin on the part of the British. When the 
alarm of explosion first occurred, the whole city was 
set in commotion. The housekeepers and children ran 
to their houses generally for shelter, and the British 
army every where ran from their shelters to their as- 
signed places of muster. Horns, drums, and trumpets 
every where resounded to arms, and cavalry and horse- 
men dashed to and fro, in gay confusion. 

The kegs which gave this dread alarm were con- 
structed at Bordentown, and floated down the Delaware 
for the purpose of destroying the British shipping, which 
had been moored in the mid-stream, in a long line, the 
wliole length of the city. The kegs were charged with 
gunpowder, and were to be fired and exploded by a 
spring lock the moment the keg should brush against 
the vessel's bottom. The kegs themselves could not be 
seen, being under water ; but the buoys which floated 
them were visible. It so happened, however, that at 
the very time (January 7, 1778,) when the scheme was 



HISTORIC TAlEa 



set in operation, the Britisl,, fearing the making of ice 
had warped in their shipping ,„ t'he wharve fand ^ 
escaped much of the intended mischief. 

uo^if/T. 1 " ^^'^" ""empting ,o take one of them 
up t exp oded, and killed four of the hands and wound- 
ed the rest. Soon all the wharves and shipping were 
ned w,th soldiers. Conjecture was vagu'ef an'd ima! 
gnat on supphed many •' phantoms dire." Some as- 
sorted the kegs were filled with armed rebels-that 
hey had seen the points of their bayonets sticking out of 

tt ishfh ' k""^' "'^' '"^^ ''"' '"'' -"• -- 
fnguishable combustibles, which would set the Delaware 

jn flames, and consume all the shipping ! Others deemed 
!nd T^:^!"'"':^'"''' ^hich could mount the wharves, 
and roll an flammg into the city ! Great were the exer- 
tions of officers and men, and incessant were the firings, 
so that not a chip or stick escaped their sharp shooting 
and v,g,lance ! We are indebted to the facetious muse of 
Francs Hopkmson, Esq. for the following i^« d^esprit 
upon the occasion . I give an extract, to wit : 

" Those kegs, I 'm told, the rebels hold, 
Pack'd up like pickled herring ; 
And they 're come down f attack the town 
In tliis new way of ferrying. 

"The soldier flew— the sailor too. 
And, scar'd almost to death, sir, 
Wore out their shoes to spread the news, 
And ran till out of breath, sir. 

" Arise, arise,— Sir Erskine cries. 

The rebels — more 's the pity 

Without a boat, are all afloat. 
And ranged before the city. 



OF OLDEN TIME. ^yy 

*♦ The royal band now ready stand, 
All ranged in dread array, sir, 
With stomach stout to see it out, 
And make a bloody day, sir. 

" Such feats did they perform that day, 
Against these wicked kegs, sir, 
That years to come, if they get home. 
They '11 make their boasts and brags, sir." 

In June, 1783, Philadelphia city was put in much 
excitement and commotion by the sudden approach of 
four or five hundred soldiers, who came to demand of 
congress, per force, their arrear of pay. They came 
marching down Fourth street in martial array. As 
they formed before the hall, considerable alarm was 
excited within among the members. Some gentlemen 
interceded to preserve peace, — but tlie congress pre- 
cipitately went off to Princeton. The soldiers next 
threatened the then only bank, when the citizens took 
it up and ran to arms, and the soldiers withdrew quietly 
to the barracks in the Northern Liberties, where they 
were soon after all made prisoners, by a stronger force 
of soldiery. 

The news of "Cornwalhs taken," was a joyful event 
in Philadelphia. It came by express at midnight ; and 
the watchmen, in crying the usual hours, aroused the 
inhabitants by adding — "and Cornwallis taken!" A 
more cheering serenade was never heard sounding 
abroad in midnight air. 

When " the peace" was confirmed, the joy was un- 
bounded. A great flag was hoisted on a lofty mast on 
Market street hill, and the people fastened their eyes 
upon it by the hour, transferring to the emblem the 



300 



HISTORIC TALES 



veneration which they felt for the achievers of the peace. 
Great fireworks were prepared up High street ; and 
the crowd being immense, when the arch took fire and 
the rockets flew down the street among the people, a 
great panic ensued, and many contusions and accidents. 
Long it was remembered and recited with terror. The 
houses were illuminated generally, save those of the 
Friends, which, of course, afforded fine sport for the 
rabble in breaking in the dark panes. 

The peaceful affections of the Friends often made 
them the subject of severe comment among the strenu- 
ous whigs. When jealousy ran high, seventeen leading 
and respectable Friends of Philadelphia were exiled, for 
the security of good behaviour, to Winchester, Vir- 
ginia. 

It must, perhaps, surprise others as well as ourselves, 
that such an army as Howe's — of 18,000 men — could 
so make its way through a country of two millions of 
souls ! We should think that the population of such a city 
as Philadelphia, had only to turn out en masses and make 
a meal of them. But it is really wonderful on such oc- 
casions how very few of the whole can be brought into 
any effect as actual defenders ! The town meeting hosts, 
the tavern declaimers, and fire-side soldiers, all cower, 
and all hold back. The truth is, the mass of citizens 
have little or no enthusiasm in such perils ; they can 
help on the war by imposing numbers at resolves and 
at ihe polls; but when "sacred honour, lives, and for- 
tunes" are really needed, " few take the risk, and less 
the battle share !" Howe, as a martial man, knew this, 
and pushed his way accordingly, and at length made his 
entry good into Philadelphia, where he staid just long 



OF OLDEN TIME. 



301 



enough to enervate himself and his army, and to yield 
to pastime and pleasure, what we could by no means 
constrain by any force of our arms. 



THE FEDERAL PROCESSION. 

" 'Twere worth ten years of peaceful life — 
One glance at their array !" 

This great procession took place at Philadelphia, for 
the purpose of celebrating the adoption of the constitu- 
tion, and it was appointed on Friday, the fourth of July, 
1788, for the double purpose of commemorating the 
Declaration of Independence of the fourth of July, 
1 776. Although we have had several processions since, 
none have ever equalled it in the pomp and expense of 
the materials engaged in the pageantry. The soldiery 
then were not so numerous as in the late entry of La 
Fayette, but the citizens were more numerous, and 
their attire more decorative. It was computed that 
five thousand walked in the procession; and that as 
many as seventeen thousand were assembled on the 
*' Union Green," where the procession ended, in front 
of Bush-hill.* The whole expense was borne by the 
voluntary contributions of the tradesmen, &;c. enrolled 
in the display ; and what was very remarkable, the 
whole of the pageantry was got up in four days ! 

The parties to the procession all met at and about 
the intersection of Cedar and Third streets, and began | 

* This was then Hamilton's elegant country seat. 
26 



302 HISTORIC TALES 

their march by nine o'clock in the morning. They went 
up Third street to Callowhill ; up that street to Fourth 
street ; down Fourth street to High street ; and thence 
out that street across the commons to the lawn, before 
Bush-hill, where they arrived in three hours. The 
length of the whole line was about one mile and a half. 
On this lawn were constructed circular tables, leaving 
an area for its diameter of about five hundred feet. The 
tables were covered with awnings, and the centre was 
occupied by the " Grand Federal Edifice," drawn there 
by ten white horses, — and by the ship Union, drawn 
there also by ten horses. There, an oration on the oc- 
casion was delivered by James Wilson, Esq., to upwards 
of twenty thousand people. After which, the whole 
members of the procession sat down to the tables to 
dinner. The suppHes were abundant ; no wine or ardent 
spirits were present ; but porter, beer and cider flowed 
for all who would receive them ; and of these liquors, 
the casks fined all the inner circles of the tables. They 
drank ten toasts in honour of the then ten confederated 
states; as the cannon announced these, they were re- 
sponded from the ship Rising Sun, laying in the Dela- 
ware, oflf High street, decorated with numerous flags. 
The same ship, at night, was highly illuminated. This 
great company withdrew to their homes by six o'clock 
in the evening ; all sober, but all joyful. This occasion 
was the strongest which could exercise the feelings of 
the heart in an affecting manner. It was to celebrate 
a nation's freedom, and a people's system of self- 
government ; a people recently made free, by their des- 
perate efforts ; the remembrance of which then power- 
fully possessed every mind. They then all felt the deep 



OP OLDEN TIME. 303 

importance of the experiment of self-government, to 
wliicli their hearts and voices were then so imposingly 
pledged. The scene ought not to be forgotten; we 
should imprint the recollections of that day, and of the 
imposing pageantries, upon the minds of our children, 
and of our children's children. This has been already 
too much neglected ; so that even now, while I endea- 
vour to recapitulate some of the most striking incidents 
of the day, I find it is like reviving the circumstances of 
an almost obliterated dream. I did not see the specta- 
cle ; but it was the talk of my youthful days for years 
after the event. 



WATERING PLACES. 



" And when too much repose brings on the spleen, 
And the gay city's idle pleasures cloy, 
Swift as my changing wish, I change the scene, 
And now the country, — now the town enjoy." 

Tne practice of summer travelling among the gentry 
and their imitators, is quite a modern affair. Our fore- 
fathers, when our cities were small, and pump-water 
still uncontaminated, found no places more healthy than 
their homes ; and generally, they liked the country best, 
" when visited from town." From that cause there 
were very few country-seats in existence ; and what 
there were, were so near as to be easily visited on foot, 
" not for the good and friendly too remote" to call. 
Thus the Rev. Gilbert Tennant's place, Bedminster, was 



304 HISTORIC TALES 

at the corner of Brewer's alley and Fourth street. 
Burges's place, and Mitchell's place, were in Camping- 
ton. Two or three were out in Spring Garden, on the 
northern side of Pegg's run ; Hamilton's place was at 
Bush-hill ; Penn's place was close by, at Springetsbury ; 
and lastly, Kinsey's place, where is now the Naval 
Asylum, and Turner's place, Wilton, was down near 
Girard's farm. All these were rather rarities than a 
common choice. 

As population and wealth increased, new devices of 
pleasure were sought, and some inland watering places 
began to be visited, chiefly, however, at first, for the 
good they might be supposed to offer to the infirm. 
Next in order, came sea bathings most generally used 
at first by the robust ; by those who could rough it ; 
such as could bear to reach the sea shore in a return- 
ing ''Jersey wagon,'* and who depended on their own 
supply of "small stores," sheets, and blankets, &c. 
Increase of such company, in time, afforded suflicient 
motive to residents on the favourite beaches to make 
such provision for transient visiters, as could not con- 
veniently make their own supply. Thus, yearly, such 
places of resort grew from little to greater, and by de- 
grees to luxury and refinement. It is still, however, 
within the memory of several of the aged, when the 
concomitants of sea bathing, before the Revolution, 
were rough as its own surges, and for that very reason, 
produced better evidences of positive benefits to visiters 
in the increase of robust feelings, than they do now. 
But last in order, in the progress of luxury, came the 
last device of pleasure, in travelling excursions ; now 
<' boxing the compass" to every point. The astonishingly 



OF OLDEN TIME. 305 

increased facilities of communication have diminished 
distances. Steamboats transfer us to far distant places 
before we have fairly tried the varieties of a single day 
and night of their operation ! Post coaches, and fleet 
horses, roll us as easy as on our couches ; New England 
and northern tours occur ; the grand canal and Niagara 
are sought ; westward, we have Mount Carbon, and the 
line of new canals ; and homeward, " round about," we 
have the wonders of Mauch Chunk, Carbondale, the 
Morris canal, Catskill mountain, and the everlasting 
battlements of the North river. In such excursions, 
much is seen to gratify the eye, and much to cheer the 
heart. 

I proceed now to notice, historically, the only *' Wa- 
tering Places,^'' known to our forefathers, placing them 
much in the order in which they occurred, to wit : 

<'The mineral water in the Great Valley," thirty 
miles from Philadelphia, was first announced, as a 
valuable discovery, in the year 1722. In the same 
year, great praise is bestowed on the newly discovered 
mineral water at " Bristol Spring." 

In 1770, such was the decreased fame of the Yellow 
Springs^ in Chester county, that it was deplored as a 
public evil, that it had been so deserted ; although its 
efficacy of waters and charms of scenery and accommoda- 
tion, were still undiminished, as at the beginning — (fifty 
years before.) It was stated, that from one hundred to 
five hundred persons, daily, had been accustomed to be 
found there in the summer months. 

We think " Long Beach" and '' Tucker's Beach," in 
point of earliest attraction, as a sea-shore resort for 
Philadelphians, must claim the precedence. They had 
26* 



306 HISTORIC TALES 

their visiters and distant admirers long before Squam, or 
Deal, or even Long Branch itself, had got their several 
fame. To those who chiefly desire to restore languid 
frames, and to find their nerves new braced and firmer 
strung, nothing can equal the invigorating surf and 
genial air. And what can more aflfect the eye and 
touch the best affections of the heart, than there to think 
of Him who made those great waves ; stalking like so 
many giants to the shore, — tossing their white crests 
high against the everlasting strand, and calling to each 
other, in the deep toned moans of imprisoned spirits, 
struggling to be free! In the beautiful language of our 
countrywoman, Mrs. Sigourney, we may say, — 

" Thou speak'st a God, thou solemn, holy sea ! 
Alone upon thy shore, I rove and count 
The crested billows in their ceaseless play ; 
And when dense darkness shrouds thy awful face, 
I listen to thy voice and bow me down. 
In all my nothingness, to Him whose eye 
Beholds thy congregated world of waves 
But as a noteless dew-drop .'" 

*^Long Branch,^^ last but greatest in fame, because 
the fashionables, who rule all things, have made it so, is 
still inferior as a surf, to those above named. It was 
held before the Revolution by Colonel White, a British 
officer and an inhabitant at New York. The small 
house which he owned and occupied as a summer re- 
treat, is still existing in the clump now much enlarged 
by Renshaw. In consequence of the war, the place 
was confiscated and fell into other hands, and finally for 
the public good. 

The table fare of those companies who first occupied 



OF OLDEN TIME. 307 

the house^ consisted chiefly offish, and such salted meats 
as the visiters could bring with them. All, then, was 
much in the rough style of bachelor's fare. 

Prior to the above period, '* Black Point" not far off, 
was the place of bathing. They had no surf there, and 
were content to bathe in a kind of water-house, covered ; 
even Bingham's great house near there, indulged no 
idea of surf-bathing. The tavern entertainment at 
Black Point was quite rude, compared with present 
Long Branch luxuries ; cocoa-nut pudding, and floating 
islands, &c., were delicacies not even known in our 
cities. 

Indeed we cannot but see, that the most of former 
summer excursions were but for the men. They were 
generally deemed too distant and rough for female par- 
ticipation. But later improvement in roads, and a far 
more easy construction of spring-carriages, have since 
brought out their full proportion of ladies, — gladdening 
the company along the route by those feminine attrac- 
tions which lessen our cares and double our joys. Thus 
giving an air of gaiety and courtesy to all the steam- 
boats, stage-coaches, and inns, where they enter, and 
thus alluring us to become the greatest travellers in our 
summer excursions, to be found in the world I From 
these causes, country-seats, which were much resorted 
to after the year 1793, are fast falling into disuse, and 
probably will not again recover their former regard. 



308 HISTORIC TALES 



STEAM BOATS. 



" Against the wind, against the tide, 
She breasts the wave with upright keel." 

In the year 1788, the bosom of the Delaware was first 
ruffled by a steam boat. The projector at that early 
day was John Fitch, a watch and clockmaker by pro- 
fession, and a resolved infidel in theology. He first 
conceived the design in 1785 ; and, being but poor in 
purse and rather limited in education, a multitude of 
difficulties, which he did not sufficiently foresee, occurred 
io render abortive every effi)rt of his most persevering 
mind, to construct and float a steam boat. 

Applying to congress for assistance, he was refused ; 
and then, without success, offered his invention to the 
Spanish government for the purpose of navigating the 
Mississippi. He at last succeeded in forming a com- 
pany, by the aid of whose funds he launched his first 
rude effort as a steam boat, in the year 1788. The 
idea of wheels had not occurred to Mr. Fitch ; but oars, 
working in a frame, were used in place of them. The 
crude ideas which he entertained, and the want of ex- 
perience, subjected this unfortunate man to difficulties 
of the most humbling character. Regarded by many 
as a mere visionary, his project was discouraged by 
those whose want of all motive for such a course ren- 
dered their opposition more barbarous ; while those 
whose station in life placed it in their power to assist 



OF OLDEN TIME. 309 

Ilim, looked coldly on, barely listening to his elucida- 
tions, and receiving them with an indifference that 
chilled him to the heart. By a perseverance as un- 
wearied as it was unrewarded, his darling project was 
at length sufficiently matured, and a steam boat was 
seen floating at the wharves of Philadelphia, forty years 
ago. So far, his success amid the most mortifying dis- 
couragements, had been sufficient to prove the merit of 
the scheme. But a reverse awaited him, as discouraging 
as it was unexpected. The boat porformed a trip to 
Burlington ; a distance of twenty miles, when, as she 
was rounding at the wharf, the boiler burst. The next 
tide floated her back to the city ; where, after great 
difficulty, a new boiler was procured. In October, 
1788, she again performed her trip to Burlington. The 
boat not only went to Burlington, but to Trenton, re- 
turning the same day ; and moving at the rate of eight 
miles an hour. It is true, she could hardly perform a 
trip without something breaking, not from any error in 
Fitch's designs or conceptions, but, at that time, our 
mechanics were very ordinary, and it was impossible to 
have machinery, so new and complex, made with exact- 
ness and competent skill. It was on this account that 
Fitch was obliged to abandon the great invention on 
which the public looked coldly ; from these failures, and 
because what is now so easy, then seemed to be im- 
practicable, the boat was laid up as useless, and rotted 
silently and unnoticed in the docks of Kensington. 
Fitch became more embarrassed by his creditors than 
ever ; and, after producing three manuscript volumes, 
which he deposited in the Philadelphia Library, to be 



310 HISTORIC TALES 

opened thirty years after his death, he died and was 
buried near the Ohio. Such was the unfortunate ter- 
mination of this early conceived project of the steam 
boat. Fitch was no doubt an original inventor of the 
steam boat. He was certainly the first that ever applied 
steam to the propulsion of vessels in America. Though 
it was reserved to Fulton to advance its application to a 
degree of perfection which has made his name immor- 
tal ; yet to the unfortunate Fitch belongs the honour of 
completing and navigating the first American steam 
boat. 

His three manuscript volumes were opened about 
three years ago. Although they exhibit him an un- 
schooled man, yet they indicate the possession of a 
strong mind, of much mechanical ingenuity. He de- 
scribes his many difficulties and disappointments with a 
degree of feeling which cannot fail to win the sympathy 
of every reader, causing him to wonder and regret that 
so much time and talent should have been so unprofitably 
devoted. Though the project failed, and it failed only 
for want of funds, yet he never for a moment doubted 
its practicability. He tells us that in less than a century 
we shall see our western rivers swarming with steam 
boats ; and that his darling wish is to be buried on the 
margin of the romantic Ohio, where the song of the 
boatmen may sometimes penetrate into the stillness of 
his everlasting resting place, and the music of the steam 
engine echo over the sod that shelters him for ever. 

In one of his journals, there is this touching and pro- 
phetic sentiment — " the day will come when some more 
powerful man will get fame and riches from my inven- 



OF OLDEN TIME. 311 

tion ; but nobody will believe that poor John Fitch can 
do any thing worthy of attention !" I do not know that 
I have his precise words, but the sentiment is what I 
have given. The truth is, that Fitch, like Robert 
Morris, lived thirty or forty years too soon ; they were 
ahead of the condition of their country ; these great 
projects of improvements, which we now see consum- 
mated, were beyond the means of the country to exe- 
cute them, and were therefore thought visionary and 
extravagant. Public opinion ^has since become better 
instructed, and the increase of wealth has enabled us to 
do what had been thought impossible. 

As remembered to the eye, when a boy, when seen 
in motion Fitch's boat was graceful, and *' walked the 
water like a thing of life." His predilection for watch- 
making machinery was very manifest, for two or three 
ranges of chains of the same construction as in watches, 
were seen along the outside of his vessel from stem to 
stern, moving with burnished glare, in motion propor- 
tioned to the speed of the boat ; and ornamenting the 
waist, not unlike the adornments about an Indian bride. 

It is melancholy to contemplate his overwhelming 
disappointments in a case since proved so practicable 
and so productive to those concerned. Some of those 
thousands so useless to others, had they been owned by 
him, so as to have enabled him to make all the experi- 
ments and improvements his inventive mind suggested, 
would have set his care-crazed head at rest, and in time 
have rewarded his exertions. But for want of the im- 
pulse which money affords, all proved ineffective. " Slow 
rises worth by poverty depressed !" 



312 HISTORIC TALES 

After Fulton and Livingston had proved the practica- 
bility of a better invention, by their boat on the North 
river, the waters of the Delaware were again agitated 
by a steam vessel, called the PhcBnix. She was first 
started in 1809, and being since worn out, her remains, 
with those of Fitch's boat, repose in the mud flats of 
Kensington. The Phcenix, then deemed the ne plus 
ultra of the art, won the admiration of all of her early 
day; but as " practice makes perfect," it was quickly 
discovered that better adaptations of power could be 
attained, and although she underwent many changes in 
her machinery and gear, she soon saw herself rivalled, 
and finally surpassed, by successive inventions, till now, 
the steam boats can accomplish in two hours what 
sometimes took six to perform in her. For instance, 
the Phoenix has been known to take six hours in reach- 
ing Burlington against the wind and tide. 

Such too, was the rapid progress in steam invention, 
that Mr. Latrobe. who wrote a paper for the Philoso- 
phical Society to demonstrate the impossibility of a mo- 
mentum such as we now witness, became himself in 
two years afterwards a proselyte to the new system, and 
proved his sincerity and conviction, by becoming the 
agent for the steam companies in the West ! 



OF OLDEN TIME. 



CONCLUSION. 



313 



We have thus endeavoured to lead the minds of our 
youths tp the contemplation of those events, which trans- 
pired in this their native land, in the rustic days of their 
forefathers. We hope their feelings and interest have 
grown with the subject, and that they have at least felt 
an increase of veneration and regard for those progeni- 
tors who procured for them so fine a country, advancing, 
as it still does, with numberless blessings. 

To a mind fully imbued with a sense of the scenes 
and the facts* that are past, there is ever at hand a ready 
means to recreate " the ideal presence," and to enable 
the imagination to get into tiie company of the ancients — 
there to talk and think with " men of other days." 

A mind fully alive to the facts connected with our 
early history, can hardly ride along the highway, or 
traverse our fields and woods, without feeling the fre- 
quent presence of thoughts like these, to wit : — Here 
lately prowled the beasts of prey, — there crowded the 
deep interminable woodland shade, — through that crip- 
ple browsed the deer, in that rude cluster of rocks and 
roots were sheltered the American rattlesnake. These 
rich meadows were noxious swamps, — on those sun-side 
hills of golden grain crackled the growing maize of the 
tawny aborigines. Where we stand to pause, or where 
we dwell — rest perhaps the ashes of a chief who once 
had his favourite home on the same site. On yon path' 
way, seen in the distant view, climbing the remote hills, 
27 



314 HISTORIC TALES OF OLDEN TIME. 

may have been the very path first tracked from time 
immemorial by the roving Indians themselves. On 
many a selected spot, which we now admire for its rural 
charms, may have been lighted the council fires of many 
Sachems, and there may have pealed the rude eloquence 
of Tamanend himself— or of the Shingas, Tedeus- 
cunds, and Glickicans of their tribes! 

Finally, lo minds cultivated and informed, there is 
much in the contemplation of the past, to genera-te good 
feelings and strong interests for " country and home." 
Such may exclaim with generous emotion, — 

" Is there a youth with soul so dead 
Who never to himself hath said, 
Th.is is viy own, my native land!" 



INDEX. 



Assembly of Pennsylvania, 62 

■ 178. 

Academies, 164. Allentown, 67. 

Amusements, 107, 149. 

Apparel, 42, 104, 110, 

Aged persons, 239. Alice, 240 

Bucks County, 21, 40. 
Bristol, 40. Bake house, 24, 47 
Burlington, 30. By berry, 45. 
Brandy wine, 35, 284. 
Battle of Germantown, 55, 287. 
Bethlehem, 67, 201. 
Braddock's defeat, 67, 113, 200, 

248. 
Blue Anchor, 69. 
Blackbeard, 215. 
Bradford, Thomas, 89, 151, 172 
Bridges, 133. 
Belsh Nichel, 156. 
Balconies, 135. Boys, 152, 157. 
Battle of the Kegs, 297. 
Bloody election, 169. 
British army and officers, 187 

290-2. 



Colonists, 18, 21-3-9, 35, 46 

52, 61. 
Chester, 20, 61—63. 
Chester County, 35-6. 
Coaquanock, 23, 75. 
Caves, 25, 99. Carpets, 120. 
City, 26, 30-3-4, 47, 82, 282. 
Conjurers, 55, 143. 
Conestoga, 66, 205, 229. 
Canals, 57. Coaches, 131. 
Changes, remarkable, 133-7. 
Centre Square, 152. 
Court House, 166. 
Country Seats, 303. 
Cornwallis, 283, 293. I 



Dock Creek, 28, 33, 70. 
Delaware, 14. Dutch, 14, 17. 
Dancing, 149, 233. Diet, 42, 108. 
Dress, 42, 104, 110. 
Doan family, 43. E. Drinker, 72. 
Darrach, Lydia, 294. 
Duponceau, 183. 

Equipage, 125, 131. 
Education, 160. Evans, H,, 60. 

Friends, 19, 52, 60, 120, 157, 161, 

198, 203-7, 232. 
Frankford, 57. 
Fairman's Mansion, 80. 
Frontiers, 64-8. 202,226. 
French, 109, 183, 292. 
Furniture,125. Fox hunting,150. 
First born, 242-4. Fairs, 233. 
Federal Procession, 301. 
Failures, 103. 



Germans, 21, 52-4, 167, 224. 
Germantown, 52, 107,206,287. 
Game, 20, 26, 37, 55, 150. 
Great Valley, 35. Gwynned, 59. 
Gilbert family, 204. 
Godfrey, Thomas, 54. 
Graydon, Captain, 98. 
Gazettes, 273. Griscom, 165. 
Grapes and Vineyards, 277. 

Habits and state of Society, 101. 
Hall of Independence, 167,' 175.' 
Howe, General, 282-7, 292-3. 
Hoops, ladies, 118. 



Indians, 24, 32 40-6, 65-7, 

205, 229. 
Indian Captives, 204-8. 
Irish, 66, 227. Idiots, 104. 



190, 



316 



INDEX. 



Kelpius, 53. Kid, Captain, 210. 

Landing of the Founders, 20-3, 

62-9. 
Lewistown, 15, 162, 275. 
Lloyd, Thomas, 24, 91. 
Lord Allham, 306. 
Lawj^ers, 168. 170. 
Log College, 43, 162. 
Logan, James, 54, 163, 219, 228. 
Lancaster, 65, 201-5. 
Lffititia Court, 88, 145. 
Long Branch, 306. 
Ladies School, 165. 

Mills, 54-7, 63. Markets, 171. 
Money hid, 148. Marriages, 108. 
Meschianza, 294. 
Medical Lectures, 266. 
Markham, 19, 90. Makln, 161. 
Morris, Deborah, 31. 
Matlack, 89, 145. 

Negroes and Slaves, 52, 230. 
New Castle, 20. Norristown, 56. 
Norris, Isaac, 56, 97, 176. 

Office of Secretary of Foreign 

Affairs, 181. 
Oysters, 21. 

Pennsylvania, 13, 18, 21-2, 34. 
Philadelphia, 2.3, 31-4, 40, 82. 
Penn, William, 18, 20-2, 30, 60, 

63-9, 77, 81, 90-4, 142, 191, 

232 270-8. 
Penn,'LfBtitia, 60-1, 83, 94. 
Pennsbury, 40-3. 
Penn's Cottage, 88. 
Pastorius, 31,52,99. 
Pegg, D., 81-6. 
Porches, 102, 136. 
Papered Walls, 131. 
Pirates, 144-7, 209, 220. 
Pegg's Run, 157-9,200. 
Paxtang Bovs, 205. 
Players, 185" 
Politics, 108, 169. Post, 269. 



Relics, 45, 62, 79, 91-5, 169. 
Rush, Dr., 46-8, 258. 
Races, 151. 

Swedes, 15, 16, 82-7, 142. 

Swedes Church, 82-7. 

Sven Sener, 82-5. Swanson, 86. 

Springs and Summers, 260. 

Springs, 72. Society Hill, 72. 

Shackamaxon, 75. 

Slate roof House of Penn, 90,93. 

Stoves, 54. 

Spinning Wheels, 105. 

Servants, 106, 233-4. 

Schools, 107, 161. Stores, 133. 

Superstitions, 141. Stages, 15L 

Spectacles, 121. Sports, 149. 

St. Nicholas, 156. 

Skating, 153-4. 

Swimming, 153. 

State House, 167, 172,200. 

Seasons and Climate, 250-8. 

Steam Boats, 308. 

Sea bathing, 304. 

Treaty Tree, 73-7-9, 208. 
Tunkers, 53. Theatres, 184. 
Tradesmen, 104, 137. 
Tides and Floods, 262. 
Thomas, G., 101. 

Upland, 16, 20. Umbrella, 122. 

Welsh, 21, 35, 59. 
Westchester, 36. Wiccaco, 82. 
War of Independence, 40, 55-7, 

282. 
Wissahiccon, 55. 
Water Street, 103, 185. 
Wa de, Robert, 62. West, B., 75. 
Worrel, W., 36. Whitfield, 169. 
Wigs, 113-4-6, 235. 
Watches, 123. Witchcraft, 141. 
Window Glass, 136. 
Wat.oring Places, 302. 
Whales, 274-7. Winters, 253. 
Washington, 203, 248, 291. 
Washington Square, 238. 



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